Tengen Toppa Freedom Emerl Parallel Works
by Amras Felagund
Summary: Give common sense the boot and go beyond the impossible!... Once again! More tales of the adventures of the Freedom Fighters as they fight the Helix King and his armies of Black Arms and Gizoids. DO NOT READ BEFORE READING THE MAIN STORY.
1. Now We Will Alway Be Together 1

_(Guess who's baaa~ack? Yep, it's yours truly, with more stories from the world of _Tengen Toppa Freedom Emerl_!_

_Now, this story will be a little different than the original story. It will present stories in a slightly nonlinear fashion, showing tales from different time periods in the universe of TTFE. Some will be inspired by the official manga, some by the official _Parallel Works _videos, and some based off of completely original ideas._

_Now, without further ado, an early Christmas present...)_

**天元突破  
フリーダムエメル  
〜パラレルワークス〜**

**Tengen Toppa  
Freedom Emerl  
~Parallel Works~**

**by**

**アムラス・フェラグンド  
Amras Felagund**

**

* * *

**

**Now... We Will Always Be Together**

**CHAPTER ONE:  
Does This Look Appropriate?**

Sunlight glinted off of Freedom's shades, and off of Great Freedom Emerl's shades below. It was only a day since they had defeated the Great MetaCompass and destroyed the last of the Helix King's Four Helix Generals. Thankfully, the Helix King had refrained from attacking them; apparently, he needed time to recover as well.

Charmy's eyes almost popped out of his head.

"Whoa..."

Great Freedom Emerl stood before the largest body of water any of them had seen. It disappeared to the horizon, and looked a very deep blue. Small winged shapes flapped about the sandy beachfront.

"It's... it's a HUGE PUDDLE!" Charmy shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Dummy!" Knuckles smirked. "That's not a puddle; that's the _ocean_!"

"The 'ocean'...?"

"It's where water from rain and rivers and stuff all ends up," Knuckles explained.

"And where the tears of women go when they've finished crying," Rotor added.

Many people eyed him queerly.

"Just something my mother always told me," he said airily, waving a hand.

Cosmo's eyes sparkled with delight. "I have heard many wonderful stories of the ocean, but this is my first time seeing it!"

"The ocean, huh?" Tails smiled.

Knuckles turned to Charmy and Cream. "Now, it's important to remember," he said severely, "That ocean water is _salty_!"

Charmy began to flit around people's heads, chanting _salty-sea-water-salty-pee-water_ over and over and over and over and over again.

"So, what're we doing here, anyway?" Vector asked.

Rotor pulled out a small handheld computer.

"The Capital, Greengate, lies across the ocean," he explained. "This is the nearest we can get to it until we cross the ocean."

"_Cross_ the ocean?" Mighty asked suspiciously. "Why not just go _around _it?"

"Yeah, go around it!" Bark barked.

"That would take too long," explained Rotor. "Plus, it might be a good idea to fine-tune Great Freedom's levi-sphere for sea travel first."

"So, should I uncombine Freedom Emerl from it?" Tails asked.

"That would be helpful; Great Freedom Emerl's configuration is only slightly different from Great Freedom alone, but it wouldn't do for Great Freedom's levi-sphere to disconnect halfway across the ocean because it was incorporated during its Great Freedom Emerl configuration."

And so, minutes later, Tails had climbed back into Emerl's cockpit, and took the controls - Freedom Emerl had not separated from Great Freedom since they first combined to defeat Gnonine Pale-Bayleaf.

Great Freedom Emerl slammed the two halves of Great Freedom's prow back together, docking them on the front of its pelvic regions again.

"Separating... _now!_" Tails shouted, Freedom Emerl blasting off from Great Freedom's shoulders...

And Great Freedom's right arm fell to pieces, dents and punctures appearing all over the great Gizoid's body, its knees buckling slightly and a tremendous gash being torn through the side of its prow.

Rotor scratched the back of his head.

"I guess the energy-to-matter conversion properties of Emerl fixed up the damage from the Four Helix Generals, but only as long as they were combined."

"We're gonna be here a while, aren't we?" Sally asked.

"'Fraid so, Sal," Elias said.

_リゾートライフのイロハ_

Meg, Blaze, and Marine had strode out of Great Freedom in their swimsuits mere minutes after finding out that the repairs and upgrades to Great Freedom would take a fair bit of time. Meg's was a yellow sling bikini that showed absolute cleavage; Blaze's was a green one-piece that exposed her navel; Marine's was a blue two-piece.

"WHOAAAAAAA!" was the general response of the male Great Freedom Fighters. (Except Knuckles, who was trying to shield his surrogate sisters from view.)

"We have time to kick back and relax, after all," Meg said, kneeling over and clasping her hands together between her knees, squeezing her breasts together. (Elias fought to look at her face.)

"Plus, we can also verify if the water is salty," Blaze added. "If it is not, then we can restock on water."

"So, let's go, mates! Into all of your swimmers!" Marine cheered, putting a fist in the air.

"Let's all go swimming..." Vector breather.

"In our swimsuits..." Bean squealed.

"Which _means_...!" Knuckles shouted gleefully.

And all eyes fell on Sally, who had ditched her vest, and was currently standing there in only her flame-decal bra and short-shorts and blue boots and if this was her casual wear _then her swimsuit could only be skimpier and more revealing and_

"YOU PERVERTED CLOWNS!" Sally shrieked. "Don't you know we have better things to do than go _swimming_?"

"Well, that only really counts for us mechanics," said Rotor, he and Lupe leaning out of Great Freedom's door. "_We're _gonna be busy for a while, giving Great Freedom the repairs she needs after that battle with the Four Helix Generals. But the rest of you..." He smiled. "The rest of you have plenty of time to goof off."

"ALRIGHT!" Meg, Blaze, and Marine cheered - as did practically every man in the Great Freedom Fighters.

Sally sighed, walking towards her quarters.

"Spending time splashing about in the sea, huh...?" she murmured to herself. "I _guess_ it could be fun."

_ブタモグラは螺旋の夢を見るか？_

Charmy and Cream skipped energetically as the tide tickled their bare feet.

Putting a finger in the water, Charmy licked it...

And promptly spat it back out.

"Salty!" he cried.

"Yeah, it is _very_ salty," Knuckles added from the sidelines.

"Hey, guys! _Look_!" Bean squawked, pointing a feathery finger at Great Freedom.

Two females silhouettes were approaching them. They were unmistakably Sally and Cosmo.

The eager men of the Great Freedom Fighters - sans Tails - ogled them as they came out of Great Freedom's shadow. Soon they would see...

Sally's swimsuit consisted of a yellow, flowery cloth strapped around her waist that went to her knees, and a cloth top of the same color.

_It did nothing to show off her assets_.

The eager men, now feeling diminished, huddled together.

"What the hell? What's with that thing around her waist?"

"Yeah! She's showing _less_ skin than usual!"

"Chintzy squirrel-girl! She's not even showing any _cleavage_!"

"Take away the gun, and what's she got? Nothin'!"

A vein was popping on Sally's forehead.

"I CAN HEAR YOU, YOU DOUCHEBAGS!" she shrieked.

They turned to face her...

And she was lounging on the beach, her ponytail draped alluringly over an outstretched arm.

"Besides..." she said softly, almost seductively. "Isn't it better to leave _some_ things to the imagination?"

"YOU DUMB-ASS BROAD!" Knuckles bellowed, almost bowling Sally over. "_EVERYONE _KNOWS THAT THE MORE YOU SHOW, THE BETTER!"

"DON'T _FUCK_ WITH ME!" Sally screamed back. "DO YOU WANT ME TO GET NICOLE AND PUMP YOU FULL OF LEAD?"

"Umm... pardon me..." Cosmo said gently.

She was wearing a simple white one-piece with a simple white skirt, a green balloon tube around her waist and a straw hat on her head.

Cosmo shyly brought a hand to her mouth, "I have never worn an outfit like this. Does... does this look appropriate? It is a bit... embarrassing..."

The eager men of the Great Freedom Fighters swooned.

Such purity should not be tainted by lewd bareness.

"Truly," Knuckles breathed sagely, "'Tis better to conceal than to reveal."

And Knuckles and his posse - consisting of Vector, Mighty, Espio, Big, Bark, Bean, Ari, Lobo, and others - followed dreamily after the pure Seedrian girl.

She was no longer the subject of the Male Gaze, but Sally felt somewhat... diminished now. Was she jealous?

_Hardly!_ Sally told herself. _I'm not jealous of her... am I?_

_萌えろ三姉妹_

"When you're at the beach..." Meg said, holding up a rubber ball the size of her head.

"_You _gotta _play volleyball!_" cheered Meg, Blaze, and Marine.

Cosmo cocked her head to the side.

"What is this 'volleyball'?" she asked.

Meg tossed it to Cosmo, who caught it with a small squeak.

"You just smash this into your opponent's half of the playing field as hard as you can," the squirrel woman of the Wandering Orphans explained, drawing a line in the sand between Cosmo and Sally.

Cosmo gazed at the volleyball in wonder.

"'As hard as I can'...?"

Sally clenched her fists eagerly.

_This'll be a cinch!_ she thought._ I've been training for all sorts of physical activities for years, so I'm obviously the su_

Cosmo leapt twice her own height into the air with a war cry...

A glint of emerald light came from her sky-colored eyes...

She threw the ball up at least twice her height again...

And Cosmo seemed to _hover in mid-air_.

The ball fell down to Cosmo's level as she spun once in the air...

She brought her right hand around...

And the volleyball left a crater twice its size in front of Sally. Perfectly intact.

_...superior... player...?_

Eyes popped out, staring at Cosmo excitedly as she landed, folding her hands demurely over her waist.

"Did I do it right?" she asked anxiously.

"That was freakin' _awesome_, Cosmo!" Vector shouted.

Cosmo smiled.

"I received basic sports training in the Capital," she said. "It was considered part of a well-rounded lady's education."

_S-she's a much more formidable opponent than she appears!_ Sally resolved to herself.

She would not let this girl upstage her.

After Sally lost soundly to Cosmo in volleyball...

"Don't forget about _suikawari_!" Marine cheered, holding up a watermelon.

Suikawari was a traditional game on the surface, and it involved swinging a stick at a watermelon set on the ground and splitting it... while blindfolded, after being spun around three times. Whoever split it first won. (In that regard, it was similar to piñata.) The split pieces were then shared amongst the participants. _Suikawari_ came from the extinct language of the ancient country Japan's phrase for 'watermelon splitting'.

Sally swung a wooden pole at the watermelon, but the blackjelly that had latched onto it, giving it its black stripes, had scuttled away at the last moment.

"And now, it is Miss Cosmo's turn," said Silver, softly but clearly.

Immediately after Espio had finished spinning Cosmo around and stepped away, she raised up the wooden stick and - the stick somehow leaving behind a glowing green trail - smashed down on the watermelon.

It split into many identically sized pieces. Exactly one slice each for everyone present.

(The blackjelly stared up at Cosmo with large fearful eyes, and scuttled into the sea.)

Cosmo lifted her blindfold.

"Wow... I did it!"

Everyone cheered.

Except Sally. She simmered bitterly.

And so Cosmo proved that she was a much more capable sportswoman than Sally by far...

In Capture-The-Flag (Sally nicked her toes against a shell hidden under the sand, and Cosmo continued onward after ensuring that Sally was alright)...

In sand castle building (Sally had barely gotten it together into a small mound when Cosmo had finished hers: a palace with drill-shaped minarets)...

In holding breath underwater (Cosmo simply clasped her hands and closed her eyes while Sally struggled to hold her breath in, finally flailing to surface, gasping for air)...

So Sally decided to sit it out, Kukku sitting on her head, while Cosmo and the guys splashed about in the water.

"She really fits in, doesn't she?" said Rotor, standing beside Sally.

"Rotor!" Sally gasped. "How long were you...?"

"Long enough. Even us mechanics need a lunch break," he said simply. "But, you seem mad that she stole the boys' attention away."

"I am _not_ mad!" Sally shouted, Kukku flitting off in shock, his ball turning into a **!**.

Rotor chuckled slightly. "Clearly." He started to walk off towards the group, who were leaving the water, Tails & Cosmo holding hands. "Well, what's on the itinerary, guys?"

"After a swim, you _gotta_ have a barbecue!" Knuckles called out.

"I'll get the fish!" Big called out, producing a fishing pole.

And a short while later, a fire was set up with wood from Great Freedom's storage, and fish and crabs and various other edible sea life were prepared by Cosmo for everyone's enjoyment. Her cooking was just as extraordinary as her sports skills.

Cosmo, holding a barbecued crab, looked sidelong at Sally.

_Miss Sally seems rather put off_, she thought. _Is it because of me? Would she like to receive some food that I prepared?_

She approached Sally.

"Miss Sally, here. Take this," she said brightly, holding out the barbecued crab in its bowl.

Sally started, but put on a too-wide smile and raised her hands slowly, "S-sure thing, Cosmo."

As Sally's hands touched the crab, Cosmo released it...

But Sally's grip was looser than either knew or intended, and the crab, bowl and all, fell into the sand.

Sally gasped in shock and shame; Cosmo had worked so hard at it, and...

And the guys were yelling at her now!

"What the _quack_, Sally?" Bean shouted.

"Yeah! Cosmo slaved over that crab just for you!" Mighty called.

And all of them - save Tails and Rotor - booed Sally...

And then burst out laughing, "JUST KIDDING!"

They stopped abruptly, though, at what they next heard.

"Don't worry, Miss Sally," Cosmo said cheerily, picking up the crab and bowl. "I will make you another."

Sally, fists balled up, turned away.

"I'm sorry," said Sally sharply. "I'm not hungry."

She walked off down the beach.

"I need to cool off," she called back shortly. "I'll be back whenever."

"Miss Sally..." Cosmo said sadly.

"Aww, c'mon, Sal!" called Mighty. "Can't you even take a joke?"

"Yeah, it was just a joke," Big said slowly.

"Learn to read the room, lady!" Bean squawked.

"Yeah! Read the room!" Bark barked.

Tails's ears perked up.

"Wait. What's that sound?"

Everyone cupped their ears; sure enough, everyone eventually heard the sound of a _stampede_.

"What's going...?" Knuckles grumbled, turning to the source of the sound...

And freezing.

It was a stampede of _beautiful women_!

And at the lead were two particularly attractive girls.

One was a very beautiful bat woman, with long white hair and bright cyan eyes. She was wearing a deep-purple dress that hugged her every curve, with a pink heart-shaped mark over her chest. And speaking of her chest...

_Yowza!_ Knuckles's eyes nearly burst out of his head. _She's even bigger than Sal!_

Her companion was a stunning teal hedgehog woman with blue quills styled like waist-length hair. The hedgehog-girl eyes were the exact shade of milk chocolate, and her figure was almost as developed as the bat-girl. She wore a simple red dress that proudly presented her magnificent mammaries, a slit running down the side from her left hip, and elbow-length red gloves.

The bat-girl fluttered her eyes alluringly, and the hedgehog-girl kneeled over, giving a generous view of her cleavage.

"My name is Rouge," said the bat-girl.

"And I'm Breezie," the hedgehog-girl said.

"You must be the Great Freedom Fighters," Rouge breathed, pressing her breasts against Knuckles's chest, walking her fingers along his arm.

"We saw the images in the sky that the Helix Generals were showing," Breezie trilled, her hips swaying as she approached Tails and - Tails took a step backwards, but it was fruitless - began to stroke the back of his neck.

"And we have to say," Rouge sighed, "You're even more _amazing _in person."

By this point, the entire group of Great Freedom Fighters was surrounded by the crowd of alluring women - some were human, some were anthros, and some were of Cosmo's race. But all of them were blindingly beautiful.

"W-where did all these girls come from?" Knuckles stammered, though he did not really resist the bat-girl who was currently trying to wrap her wings around him.

"We're all from a women-only village nearby called Byuutee Village," said a brown-haired half-anthro girl with cat ears and tail, wearing a yellow skirt and top and a pink jacket. "If you don't mind, would you stop by and allow us to..." She folded her arms under her chest, pushing her breasts up. "...'entertain' you? _Lavishly_?"

Blaze whispered to Marine, "Is it not fishy that this is a woman's-only village?"

"Yeah. Really suss," Marine agreed.

"But, knowing Knuckles, he will see through i—"

"ALRIGHT!" Knuckles bellowed, taking Rouge and Breezie in his arms. "OF _COURSE_ WE'LL COME! WE'LL REGALE YOU WITH TALES OF OUR HEROIC DEEDS! RIGHT, GUYS?" he addressed the other guys of the Great Freedom Fighters.

"YEAH!" they cried.

Tails & Cosmo, holding hands, merely gawked.

Meg and Blaze facepalmed.

"Phh... Hopeless," Marine sighed.

_狼が来た！！_

Byuutee Village was only visible as a wide hole in the ground from the surface. However, inside the hub of the village, it was milling about with more beautiful women than any of the Great Freedom Fighters had ever seen before, many of whom were eying the Great Freedom Fighters with interest and... regret?

"Th-this village only has women in it, huh...?" Rotor asked himself. He felt out of place with all of these guys who were practically salivating at their fortune.

"Feed us entertainment!" Knuckles - and several of the Gizoid pilots - shouted. "Hurry up with the entertainment!"

Rouge, Breezie, and Sara - the half-cat-girl - smiled brightly.

"Right away," Breezie said lowly.

She clapped twice...

And Black Arms poured into the room, pointing machine guns at the Great Freedom Fighters.

Cosmo squeaked in fright, a hand falling on Tails's chest. Meg let out a scream of terror.

Rouge, Breezie, and Sara averted their eyes.

"We're so sorry," Rouge said softly.

"We were ordered to do this," Sara breathed.

"We would have been killed if we refused," Breezie sniffed, sounding close to tears.

"YOU GOTTA BE SHITTING ME!" Knuckles shouted. "THIS WAS A BLACK ARMS TRAP ALL ALONG?"

"Seriously?" Marine murmured.

Loud footsteps reached them, and the Great Freedom Fighters fell silent.

A large white wolf in a purple sleeveless uniform parted the crowds of Black Arms. His golden-yellow eyes looked over the Great Freedom Fighters as if they were a savory steak. His arms were folded behind his back.

"We have apprehended the Great Freedom Fighters, Master Drago," Rouge said, bowing deeply.

"Good work, girls," he said lascivously, stroking her cheek - some of the Great Freedom Fighters gasped, because with his arms no longer folded behind his back, Drago's arms from the shoulders down were revealed to be cybernetic replacements with long steel claws on the ends of his fingers.

To her credit, Rouge glowered at Drago with intense loathing.

Drago leered, growling dangerously, "Why the sour look, sweet-cheeks? You should know better than to give me such a nasty _look_!"

He swiftly pulled his hand back, leaving some slices along Rouge's cheek. Her hands flew up to her face as she shouted in pain, then, bearing her teeth, Rouge spat at Drago.

Drago growled angrily, and pulled his hand back —

"LEAVE THEM ALONE!"

Tails strode forward, his hands balled up. Cosmo was gazing fearfully at Tails.

Drago, his yellow eyes popping, his razor teeth bared, strode up to Tails.

"I know you... You're the one who killed General Blacknarcissus," he hissed. "If it was me on that battlefield, you would be as dead as that _bro_ of yours."

"_Shut up!_" Tails shouted. "What do you know, anyway? You're just a big brute who's siding with the Helix King! And you call yourself a Möbian?"

"QUIET, WHELP!"

Tails fell to the ground, his eye blackening from where Drago's fist struck him. Drago grabbed Tails by the scruff and held him up off the ground, many guns trained on the fox boy. Drago's eyes fell on the small emerald drill dangling from Tails's neck.

His grin showed all of his teeth.

"I'll be taking that," he snarled, pulling the Core Drill clean off, the cord of pig-mole hair snapping.

Then he tossed it to a Black Arms soldier.

"Hold on to this," Drago ordered. "And make sure their Gizoids are secured in the name of the Helix King."

"Yes, sir!" said the Black Arms soldier, saluting, before making her way up the ramp leading back to the surface.

"And for your information, _whelp_," Drago growled, practically nose-to-nose with Tails, "I am not serving the Helix King because I agree with him. I serve no one but the strong and able. And when I offered my great service to him, I had my arms upgraded to what they are by the Helix King himself. So don't you _dare_ suggest that I am debasing myself to the Helix King."

And he threw Tails roughly to the ground.

"Take them to the maximum security cell," Drago commanded the remaining Black Arms.

Rouge, Breezie and Sara at her side, gazed sorrowfully after the Great Freedom Fighters.

_クロゼ_

The few Great Freedom Fighters who took no part in the shenanigans on the beach were shortly rounded up by those Gizoids and Black Arms under the control of Drago Wolf.

Krozé, an anteater-shaped Black Arms, narrowed his golden compound eyes with mirth as he made off with a very well-made sniper rifle from one of the quarters inside the Great MetaFlare. It looked old, but whatever one of the Great Freedom Fighters owned it took very good care of it. Almost like a good friend. Maybe he would get to keep it —

"Hey."

Krozé turned around —

And his skull was promptly crushed by a large stone dropped on it from the ledge above.

Sally leapt down and picked up Nicole.

"Sorry, girl," she said gently, before looking up at the Great Freedom.

Gizoids were surrounding it from every direction, and there was a line of Great Freedom Fighters being led away from it by Black Arms. Various other Gizoids were carting off those that previously belonged to the Great Freedom Fighters.

Standing erect over the distant line of captive Great Freedom Fighters, clearly devoid of a pilot, was a tall, slender Gizoid of stainless steel, a golden-yellow orb in the middle of its chest in lieu of a face. Its head bore a vicious maw of razor-sharp metal teeth.

**ドラゴ・ウルフ専用カスタムギゾイド  
グレイトドラゴん  
Drago Wolf's Exclusive Use Custom Gizoid  
Great DragoN**

"What happened here...?" Sally murmured.

_ドラゴ・ウルフ_

Drago, wiping off the bat-spit from his face with a napkin and disposing of it in an incinerator, entered the dark room and knelt on the dais in the middle.

A holographic black monolith appeared before him, blood-red letters reading 'HELIX KING - SOUND ONLY' appeared before him.

"How has it proceeded, Drago?" asked the Helix King, Lucus Darkoak.

"The women of Byuutee Village played their part magnificently, sire," Drago said, licking his lips. "I can have my way with them if I please, right, sire? _Reward_ them as only I can?"

A prolonged pause from the Helix King.

"Very well," the Helix King said. "But do not spoil all of them. Your Helix King has desire to sate as well."

Drago bowed his head still lower.

"Of course... sire."

"You have the pilot of Freedom Emerl as well, do you?"

"Of course, sire."

"Good. See to it that he is brought to me, and his Core Drill properly disposed of."

"I have already seen to that, sire. I will have the whelp brought to you as quickly as possible."

"Excellent work, Drago. You are a credit to your kind."

"Thank you, sire. Then again, I am a credit to your Helix Empire as well."

The Helix King gave a grunt that Drago took to be an agreement.

"So, _she_ will be meeting the latest Exiled Princess, will she not?" the Helix King continued.

"I can only suppose so, sire," grunted Drago. "And what do you suppose she will say, sire? She who lost herself to servitude and despair...

"The Other Princess."

_ギャラクシーナ・ダークオーク_

The very core of Byuutee Village was the location of the village leader's audience chamber. It was a spacious chamber, but dark, the walls completely obscured by forest-green curtains.

And in the center, in a tall chair that reached the ceiling, sat the chief of Byuutee Village.

She was of the Helix King's race, and appeared to be in her late teens. Atop her teal hair sat a single daisy flower. Her purple eyes were currently narrowed at the holographic display showing the core Great Freedom Fighters being led to their cell.

Her eyes were focused on the green-haired, blue-eyed girl near the lead of the group.

The girl had very similar facial features to the chief of Byuutee Village.

Flicking a finger paused the image on the girl called Cosmo Darkoak.

"Madam...?" asked Breezie, the hedgehog girl attending to the village leader.

"Bring this girl to me," said the village leader simply.

"Yes, Lady Galaxina," Breezie said, bowing, before sweeping out of the room.

The door closed behind Breezie...

And Galaxina Darkoak, the Other Princess, the other surviving daughter of the Helix King, offered a weary smile to the image of her little sister Cosmo.

**つづく  
To be continued...**


	2. Now We Will Alway Be Together 2

_(Chapter Two of _Now... We Will Always Be Together_. Interesting wrinkle, huh, Cosmo having an elder sister, huh?_

_Also, I apologise deeply for the protracted wait for this. I did plan to do many more chapters in the weeks after the first chapter, but one thing led to another, and... yeah. Anyway, enjoy! I will try to make my updates a LOT more frequent for this from here on out!)_

**天元突破  
フリーダムエメル  
〜パラレルワークス〜  
Tengen Toppa  
Freedom Emerl  
~Parallel Works~**

**by**

**アムラス・フェラグンド  
Amras Felagund**

* * *

**Now... We Will Always Be Together**

**CHAPTER TWO:  
So, Come With Us**

"This way, you brat!" hissed the Black Arms, jabbing Cosmo out of the prison chamber with the barrel of a machine gun.

"Cosmo!" Tails cried, before being butted to the ground by the butt of the other Black Arms's machine gun.

"Tails!" Knuckles growled, preparing to charge the Black Arms...

But the barrel of a machine gun is a sobering sight.

"Shit..." Knuckles backed down, his shackled hands going slack.

As the two Black Arms leading the swimsuit-clad green-haired girl out were closed off by the slamming door, Tails breathed Cosmo's name.

_「萌え」っていったい何ですか__？_

Cosmo silently followed the orders of the two Black Arms who had been so rough with her friends and herself, down one torch-lit hallway and another. It just would not do to get herself killed in some foolish act of defiance simply for the act of defiance itself.

As she passed through, Cosmo and the Black Arms passed several exceptionally beautiful women. Some were human women. Others were anthros - foxes, hedgehogs, squirrels, chipmunks, echidnas, cats, and the like. Others looked like they were of mixed human and anthro heritage. Others - Cosmo gasped - were like _her_; they had noseless faces and flowers on their heads!

They were whispering amongst each other.

And they were all gazing at Cosmo with identical looks of wonder.

Sara the Byuutee villager approached tentatively from the crowd.

"My lady..." she said softly.

"Stay away, freak!" snarled one of the Black Arms, jabbing at her with his machine gun.

"No, no, I _want_ to!" Sara whined, her tail swishing wildly and her cat ears flattening against her head. "I _want_ to walk her to Lady Galaxina's chamber!"

_Lady Galaxina?_ Cosmo thought.

The Black Arms turned toward each other, and, after a long moment, nodded.

"Very well," the other said. "But we'll be keeping pace, and if you try to make a break for it..."

"I _know_!" Sara growled, before skipping up to Cosmo's side and walking alongside her.

For the next minute or so, they walked in silence, though Cosmo did notice Sara stealing several glances at her out of the corner of her eye.

After a short while, Cosmo gathered the nerve to ask, "Who is Lady Galaxina?"

"She is the chief of Byuutee Village," Sara said softly.

"How long have the Black Arms been here?"

"As long as I can remember," said Sara, as they reached a large door decorated with an impossibly large tree, its roots invading a planet. "They've been here since before Lady Galaxina."

The door opened into a large audience chamber, dark, but with green curtains obscuring the walls completely.

And in the middle of the room, seated in a tall chair...

Was a girl of Cosmo's race, but a few years older. A sole daisy sat atop her teal hair. Her hardened purple eyes softened upon seeing Cosmo. She did not get up from her chair, but instead said, "Leave us."

Sara bowed, "Yes, milady," before departing between the Black Arms, who followed her.

The door slammed shut behind them.

Cosmo was alone with Galaxina.

"Pleased to make your acquaintance," the chief of Byuutee Village said, "Little sister."

In spite of herself, Cosmo's glare softened in a gasp.

_狼が来た！！_

"So," Drago said to himself, pacing before the machine those Great Freedom Fighters called 'Emerl', "This was buried underground, and dug up by that whelp and his friends, who were _also_ buried underground..."

He glared with yellow eyes at the horsehead-shaped Gizoid beside him, holding a boulder over its head. That infernal Core Drill was in the possession of its pilot.

"How could it be that that whelp could operate this _thing_, when even I cannot make it respond."

He nodded to the horsehead Gizoid.

"Do it," he snarled.

Bang.

Before the Black Arms piloting it could even obey that command, a bullet tore through one of its arms, the boulder falling onto the Gizoid, crushing it.

"What the...?"

A green glint flew out from the debris.

"No...!"

A shadowy figure in the distance, holding a large gun, caught the Core Drill, stood stunned for a moment, then bolted.

Drago's keen wolf eyes saw it all. But that intruder... did they spot _him_?

He pulled open a panel on his left arm, typing in a warning to all the Black Arms in Byuutee Village:

**ACTIVE FREEDOM FIGHTER. KILL ON SIGHT.**

_サリーも来た_

"That Black Arms had Tails's Core Drill...?" Sally gasped, running for the entrance to this village, hitching Nicole higher onto her shoulders.

Saving Emerl _and_ recovering Tails's apparently filched Core Drill? Sally marveled at the serendipity of that action she'd just taken.

But... what about Emerl?

_It came for Tails when he needed it that one time_, she thought, recalling Tails's close call falling from Zheuque yesterday. _Maybe it will happen again._

Slipping past one of the Black Arms, who was inspecting his walkie-talkie, she crouched into a cubby-hole on the first subterranean level of Byuutee Village.

_But for now..._

Sally clenched the Core Drill in her hand.

_Sorry, Tails, but I'm gonna have to borrow this for a little._

_お前なんか信じられっか！_

"Little... sister?" Cosmo gasped. She did not know that one of her elder siblings yet survived! "You are my elder sister?"

"I am," Galaxina said. "I am Galaxina Darkoak, one of two surviving children of Helix King Lucus Darkoak."

Galaxina smiled in a slightly ironic fashion.

"Like you, I am a discarded Princess."

Cosmo shivered in spite of herself. "Why... did you bring me here alone, elder sister?"

Galaxina's eyes betrayed great pain. Pain far beyond her years.

"I have waited... a long time... for someone else to be discarded in a container in that gorge, and yet, come out alive. I have waited many, _many_ years for this. Were it not for the Helix King's technology, I would have grown old and decrepit waiting." And Cosmo understood the meaning behind that pain in Galaxina's eyes.

The chief of Byuutee Village pointed at Cosmo.

"You will be my successor."

"Successor...?" Cosmo repeated. She brought up her shackled hands, pleading. "But, why do this, elder sister? Why have you come to this village?"

Galaxina sighed, lowering her head. Her teal hair obscured her eyes.

"This village exists to educate and teach proper etiquette to the maidens who are to be sent off to the Capital to... 'amuse' the Helix King," Galaxina explained. "Your mother, and my mother before her, were among those who received His Majesty's favor in this way."

Cosmo's eyes widened.

"You have no choice. Refuse...," hissed Galaxina, "and you will _die_ here, along with your friends."

Cosmo gasped loudly.

"This is your journey's end."

_お前の__ＸＸＸで天を…_

"We'll just have to dig our way out of here!" Knuckles shouted, before throwing himself against the wall, shouting _ora-ora-ora-ora-oRAA!_ as he clawed furiously in spite of his shackles.

He made nary a scratch in the wall. It offered no purchase, and not even a pebble fell free.

He sunk to the ground, his gloves torn up at his fingers, showing fingertips raw with friction.

"This is all my fault..." he growled. "I got us into this trap, and I gotta get us out."

"Don't be stupid, needle-mole!" Vector said, clapping a large mitt on Knuckles's back. "We all fell for this trap. So, we all gotta work hard to get out!"

"But, the walls are too tough to dig through..." Silver sighed.

In that moment, when everyone had fallen silent in morose contemplation, a sound reached their ears:

_Falling dirt_.

There, hunched over in the corner, digging goggles drawn down over determined eyes, where everyone thought he had been sulking from being unable to help Cosmo, Tails was actually _digging through the dirt_. They could not see how, because his shackles were blocking his hands from view...

Until he pulled his hands out, one holding a large clump of dirt he was setting aside...

And the other of which was producing a _Core Drill made of green light_.

Eyes boggled at this situation, but Knuckles quickly regained his wits.

"Hey, crackheads!" he bellowed, standing up and grinning. "If the _leader _of the Great Freedom Fighters ain't giving up, why are the rest of us giving up? He may not be the toughest-looking one in our fraternity, but he's the man that Sonic chose! And I, Knuckles of Gawain Village, will beat the _crap_ outta anyone who says otherwise!"

Tails brought up a dirt-stained glove and pushed up his digging goggles, eyes full of wonder. "Knuckles...!"

Meg, Blaze, and Marine beamed at their surrogate big brother. "Knuckles!"

Knuckles crouched beside the fox boy, still grinning. "C'mon, Tails! Don't just sit there! Let's dig our way outta here! We gotta save Cosmo, y'know?"

Tails smiled, nodding, bringing up that Core Drill of solid light up again. "Yeah!"

_エメルが動く_

"What in the...?" Drago leapt back as Emerl's eyes lit up green, illuminating the area as if it were an emerald sun.

Then it leapt into the air, spinning and forming a giant drill around its legs.

_自由_

Tails and Knuckles leapt back from the hole Tails had dug, because the earth had begun to shake violently in front of them, being swirled around as if in a blender.

A yellow robot face with blue eyes appeared there.

"E-Emerl?" Tails stammered.

It came for him? Even without the Core Drill...?

Perhaps Emerl had an affinity for its sole pilot.

Tails's brow furrowed.

"Emerl!"

Its eyes blazed green.

Moments later, the door to the prison chamber shattered outwards, startling the Black Arms guarding it.

Each soon found its heart pierced by a drill produced from yellow-colored metal arms.

Piloting Emerl without its Core Drill was not easy for Tails; the controls felt strangely weighty without it there to activate Emerl.

But Tails would make do with fighting spirit for now.

"Alright!" Knuckles shouted.

"Jailbreak was a success!" Bean squawked, putting a fist in the air.

"Chao!" squeaked Kukku.

Tails turned to the Great Freedom Fighters, blinking sweat out of his eyes.

"Alright, guys! Let's go save Cosmo!"

The Great Freedom Fighters cheered.

_親父の塊_

"Let me tell you a little story, little sister," Galaxina said, resting her head on her hand.

"I, too, incurred our esteemed father's wrath, and was disposed of at the bottom of that valley... but, miraculously, I survived. But what awaited me was not freedom, but day after day fleeing from Black Arms. My strength inevitably gave out, and I was captured. I feared I would be put to death. I was instead made overseer of this village. If I wished to survive, servitude was my only choice."

Galaxina leaned forward slightly, gripping the arms of her chair.

"You and I..." She glared. "Are the same as the maidens of this village."

"You are wrong!" Cosmo returned the glare. "Tails and his Great Freedom Fighters are making their way on their own!"

"'Tails'?" Galaxina interrupted. "So, _he_ is the one who gives you the spirit to persist. Then... _he_ shall be the first to be executed."

"NO!" Cosmo screamed.

"They will _all_ be executed, one by one, until you agree to this." Galaxina gave a twisted grin. "It will be interesting to see how long you hold out, _Cosmo_."

Cosmo bowed her head, her eyes burning.

_I'm sorry, Tails..._

"...If... If I agree... to be your successor..." she breathed. "Will you promise to spare everyone's lives?"

Galaxina's look softened somewhat, the corners of her mouth rising slightly. "Of course."

"That's as far as you go!" shouted a voice from the door as it slammed open, a bullet whizzing in and cutting a hole in the curtain behind Galaxina.

In stormed Sally, pointing her rifle Nicole at the chief of Byuutee Village. The hall behind her was littered with dead Black Arms and incapacitated villagers. Tails's Core Drill dangled from Nicole's barrel.

"Get a grip, Cosmo!" she shouted as the door slammed shut behind her. "If _you_ can't have faith in Tails, then what's the point? Besides, you _know_ that the Great Freedom Fighters won't go down so easily!"

"Miss Sally!" Cosmo gasped. "How did you get in here?"

"I guess I'm the only one to evade capture," Sally explained, not lowering Nicole or averting her gaze from Galaxina's heart. "I followed the Black Arms who had captured our people. And after I snuck in, I snooped around and found my way here. Tails must've lost his Core Drill, 'cause I got it back. Now, then..."

She addressed Galaxina now.

"I heard your story. But sorry, this girl..." Sally smirked now. "Is a core member of our group! We won't let her become the overseer of this village like this. At least, not as long as she doesn't want to!"

"Fool!" cried an armadillo-shaped Black Arms, emerging with a similarly-shaped Black Arms from the curtains behind Galaxina. "What can you hope to do?"

Sally gestured for the Black Arms to 'bring it'.

They charged, bellowing like lunatics.

Bang.

Bang.

Twin bullets between their eyes, and they collapsed.

Sally glanced back to Galaxina.

_She's taking this awfully calmly_, she thought.

Then the door shattered under the force of three drills.

Emerl, piloted by Tails, charged into the room.

Followed by the rest of the Great Freedom Fighters.

"Tails!" Sally and Cosmo shouted.

"Sally!" Knuckles bellowed. "Where the _hell_ have you been?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Sally replied testily.

"Cosmo, are you alright?" Tails asked.

"Yes, I am, Tails."

Tails's gaze turned to the girl on the throne.

"Cosmo, who's that?"

"That is my elder sister, Galaxina," said Cosmo.

The Great Freedom Fighters gasped.

"So, these are your friends," Galaxina said lowly.

Cosmo faced her elder sister again.

"Yes! This is our group, the Great Freedom Fighters! And I am going to see our father."

Cosmo held out a hand, smiling.

"So, come with us. So that both you and the people of this village can regain their freedom!"

"Freedom..." Galaxina repeated. Then...

She let out a harsh, cruel laugh.

"Freedom... Such a thing has long since been lost to me, and not simply because I cannot move from this chair's life-support system.

"The Helix King's power is absolute. Defy him, and all that awaits you is the despair of death. The brighter the light of hope in your eyes, the deeper and darker the despair."

"What a gloomy bitch..." Bark grumbled.

Galaxina nearly rose from her chair, her eyes nearly popping out of her head, her teeth bared.

"Can you fathom what it has been like? The futility of being shackled for over a hundred years to a life of molding girls into doll to serve as nothing more than amusement for the King... The despair of knowing that I am doomed to fulfill this duty if I wish to live! _Your_ freedom lies in eking out a living underground. There is _no other way_!"

"You're wrong!" Tails shouted, standing on the seat of Emerl. "We'll decide for _ourselves_ what it means to be free! I knew a man who lived his life to the hilt like that, his soul burning through and through."

The light in his eyes changed.

"I'll never be able to see him again, but..."

A green light entered Tails's blue eyes.

"Even now, he's alive in the hearts of the Great Freedom Fighters!"

Galaxina gave Tails a withering look.

"Impudent whelp..."

The audience chamber began to rumble.

"Wh-what the...?" Knuckles stuttered.

The ceiling caved in, a Something falling in. Some Byuutee Villagers beyond the chambers screamed in fear.

The Something was a tall, slender silver Gizoid, with a golden-yellow orb in the middle of its chest, a long lupine head gazing upon them all hungrily.

"Drago!" Galaxina addressed the Great DragoN angrily. "What have you done? And what are you _doing_ here?"

The Great DragoN turned to face Galaxina with golden eyes.

"The time for games is over, Galaxina," it said in a mechanically modified version of Drago's voice. "Any further failure will incur the King's wrath. It goes against my principles, but..."

It reached with dagger-like fingers towards Emerl.

"You will all _die_ here!"

**つづく  
To be continued...**


	3. Now We Will Alway Be Together 3

_(Chapter Three of _Now... We Will Always Be Together_. Drago strikes!)_

**天元突破  
フリーダムエメル  
〜パラレルワークス〜**

**Tengen Toppa  
Freedom Emerl  
~Parallel Works~**

**by**

**アムラス・フェラグンド  
Amras Felagund**

**Now... We Will Always Be Together**

* * *

**CHAPTER THREE:  
Now... We Will Always Be Together**

Galaxina gasped sharply.

"F-for real?" Marine stammered.

Emerl's canopy slid shut as Drago's Gizoid snatched it up.

"And the first of you fools to die..." snarled the Great DragoN, its clawed hands clutching Emerl from either side. "Will be the whelp!"

The Great DragoN's arms began to quiver with the effort of crushing Emerl.

Sally cursed herself for having run out of ammo in barging into Byuutee Village and taking out Galaxina's guards.

Inside the mini-Gizoid, Tails was dripping with sweat. It was tough enough trying to get Emerl to move without the Core Drill, but drawing forth the fighting spirit to keep it from being crushed by a Gizoid so much larger and tougher than it was...

Tails began to growl.

"I won't die here..."

His eyes snapped up to the Great DragoN's lupine grimace.

"I'LL PROTECT THEM FROM YOU!"

And the cockpit glowed green.

As did the Core Drill around Nicole's barrel.

Sally gasped.

"That light...!" Drago hissed.

"Is that...?" Elias breathed, shielding his eyes from the emerald gleam.

Sally, removing the Core Drill from the gun barrel, gazed into its glow as though hypnotized.

An image of a drill of green light emerging from a gun barrel entered unbidden into her mind —

And she knew what to do.

_This light..._ she thought. _It always carved out a path to victory for us. I'll place my faith in this light. Like _you_ did, Sonic Hedgehog..._

Bang.

The electrical trail left behind the projectile Nicole fired out moments later was not blue, but green.

The projectile embedded itself into the Great DragoN's right shoulder.

"What the...?" its pilot growled, loosening his vice grip on Emerl.

Looking, he noticed the tiny cracks in his Gizoid's right epaulet.

"Damn you fools for scaring me with your little light show," he said gutturally. "It is no use! My Great DragoN possesses armor on par with the Helix Generals' Gizoids! You won't—"

Its right epaulet began to glow green...

And in a flash of emerald-colored light, the Great DragoN's right shoulder was vaporized, its arm severed.

"LADY GALAXINA!" cried Breezie and Sara, running into the chamber and shielding their chieftainess from debris that, miraculously, did not harm anyone.

The Great DragoN's fallen arm's grip on Emerl slackened, and Tails felt confident enough to retract the canopy.

He caught a glimpse of a green flash overhead.

It was... his _Core Drill_!

Smirking, Tails snatched it out of the air, and plunged it into the port behind Emerl's third eye with a cry of "Emerl, Spin Start!"...

And the burden of piloting without his Core Drill was lifted immediately.

"Let's go, you bastard!" he shouted, Emerl throwing itself at the Great DragoN, a drill emerging from its crest.

Drago's Gizoid leapt back up the hole it had descended down, rockets hidden in its back firing off as it evaded the drill of Emerl. They leapt up the levels of Byuutee Village, past astonished beauties, before emerging onto the cold moonlit surface.

"Do not think you can achieve victory against us, whelp!" the Great DragoN snarled in an electronic version of Drago's voice. "All of your Gizoids are in our possession; you have no way to combine!"

Tails gritted his teeth.

"Damn it..."

The Great DragoN swung its sole remaining arm, smacking Emerl out of the air. Despite his efforts, Tails could not get Emerl's turbine to spin fast enough to slow his descent.

By sheer circumstance, he was shooting straight towards the Acorn Cannon, which had been reclaimed by the Black Arms which had piloted its twin Gizoid known to the Great Freedom Fighters as the Eliastriker. His twin brother had been slain by the Möbian who had stolen the Kerudio and the Durieko. Now, with his twin's Kerudio back in his hands, he could use it to avenge his bro -

Emerl plinked off the side of Kerudio, causing it to fall over and crush him where he stood.

The Great Freedom Fighters began to emerge from the lip of the crater leading straight down to Galaxina's chamber.

"We're free!" Bean shouted, putting a feathery fist in the air.

"Not yet, birdbrain!" Vector returned. "We still gotta get Great Freedom and our Gizoids back!"

"If only we had Freedom Emerl..." Blaze sighed.

"Wait!" Meg interjected. "Where's Cosmo?"

Those who had made it to solid ground froze, and those who were still climbing glanced back down.

_ああああッ！骸骨がぁ！！骸骨がぁぁ！！！_

Cosmo was now, once more, the only Freedom Fighter in Galaxina's chamber. The differences to her first meeting with her elder sister, not even ten minutes ago, were that two Byuutee Villagers - the half-human half-anthro Sara and the hedgehog Breezie - were flanking their chieftainess, and that the curtains around the room were torn, revealing blinking lights on unknown machines and secret passages that likely led to other spaces in the Village.

"Elder sister..." Cosmo implored. "_Please_ come with us. It is dangerous here."

Galaxina gave Cosmo a glance full of sadness and weariness.

"Even if I wanted to..."

An aardvark-like Black Arms burst into the room through a secret corridor.

Pointing a machine gun at Cosmo.

"DIE!" the Black Arms shrieked.

A shuffle of silky cloth, a soft "Oof!" and a muffled thud, followed by the rattling report of machine-gunfire.

Sara and Breezie screamed in horror.

Cosmo looked up from where she'd been pushed down, mortified.

Galaxina had bolted from her spot on her chair, thrown Cosmo to the floor, and taken the shots for her.

But it was not just the bullets that Galaxina had taken for her younger sister that shot a chill through Cosmo's body.

Steel cables led into Galaxina's bare back, leading into the back of her chair and into the curtains in the back of the chamber, to the life-support machines behind the curtains. Blisters, lesions - some cutting through Galaxina's muscle down to exposed bone - could be seen where there were no cables or clothes.

The cables shot through by the Black Arms who even now was being throttled by Sara and Breezie, Galaxina was cut off from her life-support system...

And collapsed, her teal hair shriveling and turning gray, the single flower on her head withering, her skin shriveling and tightening around her skeleton.

The Black Arms slid to the ground, Breezie having snapped its neck.

"LADY GALAXINA!" Sara and Breezie cried, rushing to the decrepit Seedrian's side.

"Elder sister...?" Cosmo gasped. "Why... do this for me...?"

Galaxina feebly turned over, faded-purple eyes meeting sky-colored eyes.

"Ugly, is it not..." Galaxina's voice, grating and weak, was like creaking wood now. "This body... kept in youth... only so long... as it's hooked up... to the life... support system..."

A bony hand reached up and took Cosmo's hand.

"No..." Sara trembled.

"Lady Galaxina..." Breezie sobbed, tears flowing down her lovely face.

"I... wanted to find... a successor..." Galaxina breathed, "So that... I might live... freely... even if... my time left... was short..."

Cosmo clasped Galaxina's frail hand in hers.

"Elder sister, if you come with us, you'll be alright...!" Cosmo said, trying to assuage Galaxina's fear as much her own. "Our father brought about the death of someone precious to Tails, and... we are on our way to the Capital..." Tears flowed in earnest from Cosmo's eyes. "And even though I am his daughter, he and his comrades welcomed me as a friend... So, surely, you will be a friend to them as well!"

"Friends..." Galaxina sighed, her eyes closing now. "I wish... I, too, could have met... people... I could... call... friends..."

A gentle smile lit Galaxina's ancient countenance.

"I shall sleep for a while now... Today... has been... terribly taxing..."

Galaxina's hand slid from Cosmo's grip, resting on her breast, which no longer rose and fell with life.

Cosmo drew in a shuddering gasp. Sara's hands flew to her mouth in shock, tears like waterfalls pouring from her blue-green eyes. Breezie brought her hands to her cheeks, trying to hold herself together.

Byuutee Village had lost someone irreplaceable.

_合体なんてクソくらえ！！_

Emerl found itself clutched in the remaining hand of Drago's Gizoid.

"_**GREAT DRAGO-NOVA!**_"

The Great DragoN fired a beam of golden energy from its chest at Emerl.

Tails screamed in pain; he could not block the beam in time, and raising some sort of shield of fighting spirit was impossible now.

Bang.

Great DragoN dodged a bullet as large as its head, throwing Emerl to the ground.

Looking in the direction of the blast, Tails saw Acorn Cannon.

Sally appeared in his eye.

"I'll handle this, Tails!" she said, gripping controls tightly.

The Acorn Cannon, now taken back by the Great Freedom Fighters, fired on the Great DragoN.

"YEAH!" Knuckles shouted at the top of his lungs, waving his mitts in the air. "GET 'IM, SAL!"

The other Great Freedom Fighters cheered alongside him.

"Hmph..." Drago's voice echoed across the field over Byuutee Village. "Your favorite trick of hijacking Gizoids... But what good will one more small-fry Gizoid do against _my_ Great DragoN?"

And the Great DragoN leapt forward, nimbly dodging the clunky Acorn Cannon's fire...

Before slicing with glowing claws that severed the tip of Acorn Cannon's cannon, melting the metal at the tip and sealing the barrel.

Sally grunted in frustration.

_How can we win...?_ she thought, glancing at her hands on the controls.

_Sonic's blood-covered hands, slack against Freedom's controls in his last moments..._

_Freedom..._

And a thought entered Sally's head. Crazy, but it could work.

She hailed Tails.

"Tails! Can you hear me?" she called to the fox boy on one of Acorn Cannon's computer screens. "We're gonna do the _you-know-what_!"

"What?" The Great Freedom Fighters said - except for Elias and Knuckles, who understood very well what she meant.

As did Tails.

He chuckles nervously; he'd never done this with another Gizoid before, "You're not serious... right?"

Acorn Cannon grabbed Emerl.

Sally's eyes glinted darkly.

"I've never been _more_ serious."

And a drill appeared over Emerl's legs as Acorn Cannon brought it up over its head and drove it into the top of its body.

Green energy swirled around Sally, her arms crossed, as Emerl's drill entered the space behind her.

And she shouted to the Great DragoN, which was recoiling in shock...

"With my heart filled with thoughts of a man gone..."

Acorn Cannon's purple carapace shifted to the same yellow hue as Emerl, its arms and legs extending...

"I knowingly took on this impossible fight!"

The grill over the bottom half of Acorn Cannon's face shunted down, revealing that its face greatly resembled Emerl's, the grill splitting off into pelvic and leg guards...

"A woman's got her pride..."

Acorn Cannon's cannon and magazine shunted themselves along to its right shoulder, new metal the same yellow hue as the rest of its body appearing from green light...

"And with my prayers and rage..."

A golden helmet slammed down from out of nowhere over Emerl, a sniper-scope appearing over its right eye...

"I'll blast you away along with this cheap trap of yours...!"

Green light playing out along Acorn Cannon's barrel, it repaired itself and extended to the same length as Eliastriker's...

And the newly combined Gizoid clenched its fists.

"So PREPARE YOURSELF!" Sally bellowed.

**エイコーンエメル  
Acorn Emerl**

"Let's go, Tails!" she shouted to Tails up in Emerl.

"O-okay!" Tails grinned, taking Emerl's controls.

And as Acorn Emerl took a step towards the Great DragoN...

It turned tail and bolted.

"I-have-an-urgent-appointment-with-the-Helix-King-I'll-deal-with-you-scum-later!" Drago called out in a single breath, panic obvious in his tone that could not be modulated out by Great DragoN's vocabulator.

"YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY!" Sally shouted. "Tails, lend me your power!"

"Yeah!"

Emerl's eyes glowed green...

"FINISHING MOVE!" Sally shouted.

And a green tube three times the size of Acorn Emerl played out over its cannon...

"**GIGA...**"

Which solidified into a yellow cannon which drove a pair of drills into the ground for support from recoil...

"**DRILL...**"

Acorn Emerl took the controls to its Giga Cannon, the inside of the barrel began to glow along the spiraling rifling within...

"**SMASHER!**"

And a Giga Drill, three times the size of Acorn Emerl blasted out, leaving a helical contrail of green light behind it, quickly catching up with the Great DragoN even as Drago turned and bellowed "WHAT IN THE WORLD...?" before he and everything from the shoulders up of his Gizoid were obliterated...

And the decapitated Great DragoN collapsed to its knees, falling flat on its chest.

Sally took several deep breaths; combining was more of a rush than she'd anticipated.

Then she smiled softly.

"Thank you, Tails..."

Tails was new to combining with Gizoids other than Freedom, so this was... different. Not better or worse than combining with Freedom; just different.

He smiled all the same.

"You're welcome."

_熱砂の荒野を抜けて大グレン団が行くのだ_

The Black Arms had been driven out of Byuutee Village by dawn, but it was not safe to dwell in; the Helix King knew where it was, so it would be unwise to remain there. For the time being, the villagers would dwell in the Great Freedom until the repairs were finished a week later - along with a secret surprise project Tails had in mind for Cosmo - during which time they thought of a location for the new, above-ground village for the former Byuutee Villagers.

It was Cosmo who thought of where they would settle down in a new village.

Standing over the latest burial site of the most recently deceased Helix Princess, in a strapless thigh-length white dress, Cosmo laid her old green dress over Galaxina's body, before it was interred beneath the earth in a steel coffin they had made from leftover materials.

"Now... we will always be together... Galaxina."

Cosmo wiped away a tear.

"Thank you all so very much," Rouge said, "For freeing us from that horrible Drago Wolf and the Black Arms."

"We will remain here and build a new village," Sara said, hands clasped over her heart. "We will not want Lady Galaxina to be lonely."

"We're so sorry you had to be dragged into this," said Breezie sadly, wringing her hands together, inadvertently squeezing her breasts together.

"You had no choice in the matter," Cosmo said softly. "Your hand was forced, and you were unable to make up your own mind. Now you can."

Cosmo stood, a hard glint appearing in her eyes, her eyebrows meeting.

"And I have made up my mind. This only solidifies my belief that Father's methods are wrong. My doubts are gone now. He absolutely _must_ be stopped from doing such things. I shall also fight against my father... no, against the _Helix King_."

"We will win, no matter what it takes!" Sally added, nodding at Cosmo with a smile. Cosmo returned the gesture.

"Cosmo."

Tails waved Cosmo over to Emerl. He had a mysterious smile on his face.

"I got a surprise for you. Rotor and I have been working on it."

Riding back to Great Freedom astride Tails's lap, Cosmo was wondering what Tails's big surprise. He had been spending a lot of time this week sequestered away in the depths of Great Freedom, along with whatever spare mechanics there were.

After disembarking from Emerl, Tails kept quiet, but kept wearing that ingratiating smile that tugged at Cosmo's heartstrings even now when her newly discovered elder sister had died.

Eventually, they came to a door, a dark door, emblazoned with an impossibly large tree entangling its roots in a planet.

Cosmo paused. This was the same mark that was on Galaxina's chamber.

Tails gave Cosmo a worried look.

"Cosmo...?"

Gazing back at Tails for a moment, Cosmo shook her head dismissively.

"Nothing. Don't mind me, Tails," she said lightly. "It's nothing, really."

Deciding that he would be better off to do as she said, shrugged imperceptively and knocked on the door thrice, then twice, then once.

"Come in, Tails," came Rotor's light voice.

Tails pushed the door open, leading into darkness.

The door closed behind them.

"Tails..." Cosmo sounded quite worried. "Why is it so dark in here...?"

The lights slammed on.

It was once the Great DragoN, but its polished silver carapace was replaced with white with green highlights, the golden orb in its chest replaced with an identical ruby. Its head, vaguely resembling Emerl, had a pair of blue orbs where its eyes would be, a pair of red spikes projecting from either side of its head. A long green cape flowed from the back of its head down to the base of green-tipped feet.

Cosmo gasped.

"A Gizoid... for me?"

Tails rested an arm around her, resting a hand on her shoulder.

"You bet, Cosmo," he said. "Now, you can fight alongside me, if you really want to."

She looked into his eyes, for a long moment...

And nodded, smiling.

"Thank you, Tails." She looked up at the Gizoid that was once the property of a Möbian who had joined the Black Arms, and was now her own.

"You gonna give it a name?" said a voice from the closed doors.

Rotor approached, pushing his pince-nez up his nose.

"Giving it a name makes it a distinct thing from the Helix Empire," the walrus smiled. "So, when you can come up with one, let us know."

"I can name it now," Cosmo said.

Gazing up into the Gizoid which she would now pilot, a myriad of names burst through her mind. Half of her mind contemplated naming it after her deceased sister Galaxina, but she did not feel she needed to do so to remind herself of the atrocious act of creating a village of beautiful women for her father to choose from.

A name, two words long, came into her mind. A small hope implanted for the future.

A pure tomorrow that would sprout from a seemingly insignificant beginning.

"I will name it... White Seed."

**ホワイトシード  
White Seed**

_ラップは漢の魂だ__! __無理を通して道理を蹴っ飛ばす__! __俺たち大グレン団のテーマを耳の穴かっぽじってよ～く聴きやがれ__!_

The bridge of Great Freedom was in a flurry now that the repairs to the Gizoids and to Great Freedom himself had been completed.

Restraints had been built in to every seat on the vessel, even in the mess hall, in the event that they entered battle conditions and Tails had to combine Freedom Emerl and Great Freedom into Great Freedom Emerl. Rotor also began to draw up plans to add in emergency seats to the corridors as well, so that those caught in the hallways during a sudden battle would not be thrown around dangerously.

"All sectors are in sync!" Chris said brightly from his console.

"We're all counting on you, boss!" quacked Bean.

"Go ahead and make it sound good, Tails!" Rotor beamed.

Sally, Nicole looped around her shoulder, gave Tails a bright smirk.

Knuckles grinned and gave a thumbs-up.

Elias, at the head of the bridge, nodded at Tails.

Meg folded her arms and nodded, smiling warmly.

Blaze, hands clasped as if in prayer, nodded in Tails's direction.

Marine gave a whoop and put a fist in the air.

Silver nodded curtly at Tails, giving a small smile.

Lobo folded his arms and nodded, smiling gently.

Lupe, her face on a screen showing a live feed from the engine room, nodded slowly.

Big, and Bark beside him, gave opposing thumbs-ups.

Vector, resting a hand on his hip, gave a thumbs-up.

Espio, arms folded, nodded curtly.

Mighty gave a thumbs-up and a remarkable imitation of Sonic's grin.

Kukku nuzzled himself along the side of Tails's head, the ball floating over his head turning into a heart.

Cosmo, hands folded on her lap, smiled at Tails.

All these friends were behind Tails, believing in he that believed in himself, to see the downfall of tyranny on Möbius.

Tightening the red scrap of cloth that was part of Sonic's cape around his coat's left arm, Tails faced out of Great Freedom's window-eyes...

Took a deep breath...

And grinned as he shouted,

"Full speed ahead! Destination... Greengate!"

The Great Freedom Fighters cheered.

**「今****・・・****私たちはいつも一緒になります」の****終わり  
End of ****Now... We Will Always Be Together**


	4. That Thing Would Look Cooler In RED!

_(The _Parallel Works _continue (after a far-too-long hiatus)! This is a short story based off of the_ Parallel Works_ video called _Kittan Zero_. I will update this intermittently with another project that will begin soonish. Hopefully._)

**天元突破  
フリーダムエメル  
〜パラレルワークス〜**

**Tengen Toppa  
Freedom Emerl  
~Parallel Works~**

**by**

**アムラス・フェラグンド  
Amras Felagund**

**That Thing Would Look Cooler In **_**Red**_**, Don't You Think?**

* * *

_"There they are," Blaze said as she lowered her binoculars, pointing with her free hand at the cluster of Black Arms bastards that we were tailin' then._

_So naturally _I_ said, "Good. Let's take 'em out hard and fast! Show 'em the power of the Wandering Orphans!", see?_

_Their leader was some jerk-off with a huge red 'fro and black scales all over. He was HUGE, too, y'know; like, bigger than Emerl-big. And he had some giant pill-shaped Gizoids on his side that were bigger than _he_ was. I mean, bigger than Freedom Emerl._

_But I knew me and Meg and Blaze and Marine could handle 'em, 'cause we're the Wandering Orphans! We've driven off entire _battalions _of mugs as big as that Great MetaFlare just to save an innocent surface village! So I was just puffin' down a cigarette to get ready for the fight. Meg was lacin' up that razor-bladed battle yo-yo of hers —_

"'Yo-yo'?" Meg asked Knuckles skeptically, his half-empty tankard of Gawain wine sloshing dangerously close to the fire in the middle of the Great Freedom Fighters' ring of robbed Gizoids. "I gave up on that hobby ages ago. And a 'razor-bladed battle yo-yo'? That's just... far-fetched, if you ask me."

"Hey, who's the one tellin' the story here, Meg?" Knuckles slurred. "Anyway...

— _and Blaze was powerin' up that hovercraft energy cannon of hers that we stole from a Gizoid attack..._

("Well, at least _that_ much is true, Meg," Blaze whispered, Marine snoring loudly at her side.)

_...and Marine was preppin' up some o' those Burnin' Water Bombs that we use so much, y'know? Oh, and she was sharpenin' a cutlass she'd snatched from a Black Arms._

_And then, at sunrise, we fought 'em. At the base of a big-asscrack of a canyon!_

_I stood facing Big Black Fro-Arms and his army, an' he had to have had, like, a jillion Black Arms on his side! You think that Great MetaFlare's a problem? Well, this army o' Black Arms was a helluva fuckfest of trouble, and there were just _us four_ sittin' right here!_

_But who the hell do you think we are? We're the _Wandering Orphans_!_

_That energy cannon Blaze was chargin' up? We modified it so's it can fire out our Burnin' Water Bombs, an' they tore up some o' those pill-Gizoids before they could start causin' trouble for us._

_Big Black Fro-Arms spotted Blaze in the hovercraft energy cannon, an' he called out in his big black fro-arms voice to his fellow Black Arms to "FIRE!"._

_An' then Marine popped up in the middle of those Black Arms and drew their fire, duckin' the bullets and wheedlin' out the Black Arms by makin' em shoot themselves!_

_Then Blaze switched the cannon to an energy cannon an' carved outta the canyon wall a Fuck-Rock to crush the Black Arms!_

("A 'Fuck-Rock'?" Vector asked. Tails was trying his best to cover Charmy and Cream's ears.)

_The big ol' Fuck-Rock crushed, like, half of the Black Arms and I just stood there laughin' my ass off._

_Then the sun fell from the sky and turned into a big yellow ball and started shooting at us!_

("...What.")

_So I jumped up a million feet onto Blaze's hovercraft, an' we started flyin' away. The yellow ball opened up an' turned into a big yellow star-shaped Gizoid with a smart-ass grin on it._

_Then I remembered Sonic stole a Gizoid, and I tapped Blaze on the shoulder._

_"Knuckles, what's the situation?" she asked._

_And I said in a totally bad-ass voice, pointing a bad-ass thumb at that big-ass Gizoid._

_"Tell me, Blaze: That thing would look cooler in _red_, don't you think?"_

_And without another word, I leapt off and crammed my fingers into the space between that big-ass Gizoid's big-ass jaws._

_Meanwhile, one o' those leftover pill Gizoids zapped Marine in the tail, and she got so ticked that she cut out its legs from under it with a battle cry of "BLIMEY!", and the pill Gizoid fell on top of a big-ass Black Arms who was gonna smash Marine with a big-ass hammer. Meg was usin' her razor yo-yo to chop up Black Arms and pill Gizoids, even if they were, like, a thousand miles away from her._

_Meanwhile - this was not easy, I gotta tell ya - I pried that big-ass Gizoid's jaws open on my own. I decked that Black Arms inside a good one and threw him out, takin' that Gizoid for myself... or I would have, if it hadn't crashed to the ground then._

_Knee-deep in Black Arms blood, me and Big Black Fro-Arms stood eye-to-eye, then we looked to the snatched Gizoid, and we bolted for it, the blood not slowin' us down at all, and we were punching and kicking each other and pulling at each other's hair and shit like that._

_Then he tripped me, and he bolted towards the Gizoid..._

_And then he got hit by a Burnin' Water Bomb, and he fell._

_Marine gave me a thumbs-up, and I ran, and Meg and Blaze gave me a lift into the cockpit, and I took the controls of the robot._

_The robot turned from yellow to red, and King Knuckles was _mine_!_

_...Or so I thought._

_Big Black Fro-Arms took a ton o' pills at that moment, and before I knew it, his 'fro turned into fire, and he grew to the size of King Knuckles, I tell ya!_

_I turned King Knuckles's arms into spikes and charged at him. He charged with both fists out._

_The second those spikes touched his fists, he started cryin' like a baby, and I leapt out of my crimson Gizoid, and kicked him flat in the face, and I skidded to a stop just as he shrunk back down to size, his 'fro completely fizzled out._

_Of course, I didn't kill him just for being there; I'm not _that_ cold to Black Arms. I held out my hand to help him up..._

_Sucker! I powed him to the ground; he and his kind killed my family! I don't wanna hurt no one, but I'll leave Black Arms's heads shattered! I'm certain he's still wandering the wilderness, burning with vengeance..._

...and that's the story o' how I got my King Knuckles!"

Knuckles, his tankard now empty, collapsed between his Gizoid's legs.

"That's BS, Knuckles," said Meg. "I don't remember using a 'razor battle yo-yo' at all that day. And I don't remember that rock Blaze blasted out having _any _words carved into it. It was just a Black Arms cell, and that afro Black Arms? That Burning Water Bomb of Marine's _killed_ him. And you seriously think you turned that robot red just from sheer will? I never saw it in red until earlier today when you _saved_ us."

"Ahh, can it," Knuckles said blearily. "Don't let facts get in the way of a good story."

"That's not what I'm doing," Meg said sharply, drawing attention away from the dying embers of the volcano which had been erupting in the distance when Knuckles began his story.

"Erm, Meg...?" Elias asked warily. "It's just a campfire story."

"I know, and I'm just calling him out for BS'ing such a tall tale."

Then she smirked.

"Even so, I think I like the _story_ version better."

Knuckles smirked, giving a bleary attempt at a thumbs-up, before passing out.

**「あのものはＲＥＤ色だったら、もっとクールと思う？」の終わり  
End of ****"That Thing Would Look Cooler In **_**Red**_**, Don't You Think?"**


	5. May You All Burn! 1

_(Sorry this took so long. Worldbuilding (and writer's block (and joining the herd)) takes a long time. This chapter is pretty long, but then again it is setting up the world that we'll see in this micro-series, so it will be longer than what is to come. And now for something completely different... Time for a blast from the past!)_

**天元突破  
フリーダムエメル  
〜パラレルワークス〜**

**Tengen Toppa  
Freedom Emerl  
~Parallel Works~**

**by**

**アムラス・フェラグンド  
Amras Felagund**

**May You All Burn!**

* * *

**CHAPTER ONE:  
Why Are You So Sad, Mister?**

Lucus Darkoak was _not_ a girl.

That was the first thing that you would need to know when running into the young Thorndrigan. Lucus insisted that he was a boy whenever anyone made the mistake of addressing him as a girl. Yes, he was _not_ a female Seedrian - a Petali - but a male (called a Thorndrigan in the Seedrian tongue). Granted, it was something of an easy mistake to make, with his thin, girlish build and startlingly round, feminine features.

Of course, it was not like it was necessarily advantageous to be a boy of the Queendom of Greengate (Voshritalliv in the native tongue); the society of Greengate was matriarchal. Although job openings and high political positions were open to both genders, the position of Queen of Greengate was only to be held by Petali. The mother was seen as the root and trunk of the family, the central axis which held the clan together. Of course, the low birth rate of Seedrians was a sticking issue, which ended in any given Seedrian being able to keep up to six spouses (any one of the Petali was a matriarch of her family, which included her children and husband or husbands).

Still, there was one thing to being a Thorndrigan of eight years that Lucus Darkoak couldn't really see as being any better than marital issues that were over his head.

"Come _on_, Salasine! Hurry it up!"

Salasine rose from looking down into the pond and posed melodramatically, flinging his long pale-green hair aside.

"Hmph. If I must."

And then he charged off to join Lucus and their friends, Lucus at the head of their group.

They were not connected (although perhaps distantly) by husbands of their mothers, or wives of their fathers, but they had met at the local school and had formed a small clique of common interests.

If one were to look at them they would simply see a group of five Thorndrigans - a knot of closely bonded friends.

Syne Yellowzelkova had greenish-yellow skin and wild shoulder-length bright-green hair, and the branches coming from his head were a burnt orange. His eyes were deep green, and even though he was not yet ten yet, he had a stocky build that would surely be even more pronounced once he reached maturity. He wore a simple orange shirt and yellow shorts.

Salasine Blacknarcissus was a Thorndrigan of yellow skin and long (for a Thorndrigan) pale-green hair, and yellow branches sprouting like horns from his head. He had cold, blue eyes and a haughty demeanor that permeated the entirety of his lithe form. He wore a green waistcoat and blue pants.

Gnonine Pale-Bayleaf had a very white complexion and brown hair that met his shoulders, with tan-colored branches sprouting from either side of his head. Dark gray eyes glinted behind his brown fringe, and he folded his arms behind his back. He wore a pale-yellow tracksuit.

Undenine Redpine was a young Thorndrigan with pale-brown skin and dark-red hair, with dull-red branches coming from his head. His eyes were a sharp, piercing green, and he had a wiry build that belied a hidden strength. He wore a purple sleeveless shirt and dark-green pants that were ripped into shorts.

Last but not least, Lucus Darkoak was purple-skinned with dark-purple hair in a bob cut and a pair of lavender branches coming from his head, and emerald-green eyes. Lucus wore a black jacket and mahogany pants with a pale-green belt. He had disarmingly round features and a girlish build for a Thorndrigan, with a very narrow tail that swished back and forth occasionally. Indeed, Lucus had had a few encounters where people thought he was a Petali - a female Seedrian - who had an abnormally long tail (Petalis' tails were usually extremely short, borderline vestigial, barely covering the gluteal cleft).

At the time, the five of them were simply a small group of very close friends. They could never have dreamed that, within a year, their lives would take a dramatic turn, and they would find themselves embroiled in a great galactic war.

But for now, they were just a small group of very close friends who were on their way to Tuspio Park to play Pompaai Ball.

Lucus, for his part, was enamored with the city of Pämoa that they lived in, the city that was the center of the Greengate government, where the House of Whiteaspen held the throne under the benevolent Queen Hortensia. For centuries now, the streets were empty of motorized vehicles as Seedrian transit took to the skies, weaving intricate, pre-programmed paths between the _pilvepun_ skyscrapers.

Each and every building in Pämoa and most cities of Greengate had grown with the years, and with the families, businesses, and governmental bodies within them. Reaching for the sky, branches of new living quarters stretched out from the trunk-shaped structures of the main buildings.

And in the heart of Pämoa was the Plasati Castle, the residence of the House of Whiteaspen and the location of the Council of Greengate. Reaching miles into the sky like a goliath funnel, branches then stretched out in arcs from the highest point of Plasati's trunk and shaded the surrounding city blocks. It had taken many hundreds of years for Plasati to reach the height and the breadth that it currently occupied.

Lucus sighed contentedly. This was the society that was the result of his and everyone else's long-lived families. A stronger, loving world, built on the foundations of the work of strong ancestors.

"Lucus!" hissed Gnonine, throwing out a hand, catching Lucus on the shoulder. Lucus turned.

"What's wrong, Gnonine?" Lucus asked.

"Who's _that_ gu...?" Syne tried to shout, but Undenine threw his hands over his old friend's mouth. Salasine simply rolled his eyes at their antics.

Gnonine raised his hands to point with one, and to attempt to shield his pointing hand from view. Lucus looked, eyebrow cocked slightly.

They had reached Tuspio Park, which looked perfectly normal... at first. But then, upon closer inspection, Lucus noticed a figure in brown robes hunched over on a bench, a tall wooden staff held in one hand, the other clutching a book in his lap. He was clearly not a Seedrian, because he did not have a tail. The wooden staff was carved with glowing runes that Lucus could not read, but he assumed they either held some deep significance... or were just complete rubbish. Petali and Thorndrigans who passed the bench gave the figure a wide berth; something in his aura was just permeated with such misery and ill feeling that it was almost infectious.

Lucus, looking at this figure, was not motivated by any sense of repulsion, although he was a little too young to know a word like _repulsion_. He was feeling pity for the poor old man who was so sad that it almost seemed like he'd given up on everything.

Lucus started towards the man on the bench.

"Lucus?" Undenine asked.

"What about Pompaai Ball?" asked Salasine, kicking the pompaai ball up from the ground and catching it in his hand again.

Lucus looked back at his friends, offered a smile, and said, "I've never seen this guy before, guys. I just want to know why he's sad, so that I can find out how to make him not sad."

Lucus grinned a little, flexing his right arm and patting his arm with his left hand. "Besides, do you really think I'd get hurt by someone like that? Who do you think I am?"

His friends' unease lessened a little, at least judging from the looks they were now giving him. Sensing that they were more willing to let him approach this mysterious figure, Lucus skipped over to the bench.

Close-up, he could see that the man was definitely an offworlder; probably within the same cubic parsec, judging from how much he looked like a Seedrian. The wrinkles he bore told Lucus that he was of extreme age, probably in his seventies. Looking down at his lap, Lucus saw that the book he had was newly bound in leather and was emblazoned with a purple spiral. His hand was slightly yellow, and bore intricate black tattoes. The old man had a flat, noseless face that was also covered in intricate tattooes, and his eyes were closed; he was asleep, though he did not seem to be breathing.

A passing Petali and her daughter looked from Lucus to the old offworlder, and said to Lucus sadly, "He's been there for three days now. He hasn't moved from there in all that time."

"Mama, is that man dead?" the little girl asked worriedly.

"I hope not, darling," she said.

As if on cue, the old offworlder began to stir, his eyes slowly opening. They were almost solid black... at least, at first. As the old offworlder looked up and brought his face into the light, his pupils narrowed slightly, revealing that his eyes were grey.

Slowly, the old offworlder looked around, taking in the Petali and her daughter - she clutched at the hem of her mother's dress anxiously - and then settling on Lucus.

Lucus smiled awkwardly.

"H-Hello, mister," Lucus waved meekly.

The old offworlder smiled wearily at Lucus.

'Good day to you, young lad,' he said in a low, slow voice. He had an accent that sounded vaguely like the Seedrians who lived in Alphaön, though not exactly. But more than that, Lucus could hear in the old man's voice a certain degree of deep memory and long experience.

'What are you called, young Thorndrigan?'

Lucus, suddenly a little intimidated by the stranger's staff with the glowing runes, looked around as if to find some other young Thorndrigan whom the old offworlder could possibly be addressing. The Petali lady and her daughter had left. Lucus's friends were closer now, but had stopped a fair few meters down the path. Seeing his friends emboldened Lucus, and he turned to face the stranger, trying to puff out his chest with pride.

"My name is Lucus Darkoak! Nice to meetcha, mister!"

The old offworlder chuckled lowly.

'A pleasure, Master Darkoak,' he began, 'But I have not introduced myself yet. I am Merlin son of Merlinus Myrddin's son.'

"_Merlin_?" Lucus jumped a little, partly at the realization of who he was speaking with, but also at the fact that Salasine gave a great shout at the sound of the name Merlin. The old Avalonian - for that was what Merlin's species was - looked up slowly as the rest of Lucus's posse barged up, tripping over each other in their headlong rush to see the wise and famous Avalonian. No wonder no one had recognized him; he was not dressed in his typical blue robes decorated with filigree and golden bells.

"You are _never_ Merlin!" cried out Salasine, smiling broadly. "You're _really_ the wise old Avalonian who spearheaded the development of Virtual Preservation _and _of Physical Rendering? Who proposed the theory of probability alteration? I am the _hugest_ fan of yours! Can you sign my...! My...?" He ran back and came back moments later with the pompaai ball. "Can you sign my pompaai ball?"

Syne rolled his eyes. "Stoic as always, I see, Salasine."

Salasine gave Syne a withering look.

Merlin just laughed it off, pulling his hood back, revealing long white hair that spilled down over the back of the bench and pointed ears as long as his forearms.

'Very well, lad,' he said, placing his book aside and taking the pompaai ball in his hand. Resting his staff against the bench's headrest, he produced a small pen from the inside of his robes. With a heavy sigh, he began to write something on the pompaai ball in glowing green ink.

_So Avalonians write right to left, just like us Seedrians_, Lucus noted to himself. _But in counterclockwise spirals? Weird._

Handing the pompaai ball back to Salasine, Merlin said, 'Take good care of that. And don't be too forceful with it, or you could hurt more than just your fun time.'

"Got it, Sir Merlin!" Salasine said, springing to a salute. Syne and Undenine snickered to themselves.

'I don't seem to recall being knighted by the Pendragon,' Merlin said flatly, though he did have a slight upturn to the corners of his mouth.

"What's the autograph say, Sal?" asked Syne, peering over Salasine's shoulder.

"It says..." Salasine squinted at Merlin's loopy autograph.

'Ifaras zaras yezaras; ifaris zaris yezarik.'

Lucus looked up.

"What was that, mister?"

Merlin fixed weary graying eyes on Lucus.

'It's a proverb from my home planet. In your tongue, it means, "Knowledges open doors; wisdoms open minds".'

"'Knowledges'? 'Wisdoms'?"

'There are multiple fields that one can be excel in. As such, we Avalonians acknowledge that one can hold great knowledge in one area and be woefully ignorant in another. The same holds true of wisdom.'

"What's the difference between knowledge and wisdom, mister?"

Merlin smiled. It looked difficult.

'You are an incorrigible lad, are you not, Lucus? Well, knowledge is how much you know, while wisdom is your ability to recognise what you know and what you _don't_. In simpler terms, knowledge is pride at how much you know, while wisdom is humility at knowing no more than that.'

Lucus shook his head.

"You're too smart for me, mister."

Lucus's eyes glanced towards the book at Merlin's side.

"What's in that book? Could I look in it?"

'No,' said Merlin with sudden force. 'You don't want to read that tome. I do not want to darken your days with ill tidings, true though they may be.'

"I can't read Avalonian, though, mister," Lucus said truthfully.

Merlin sighed. 'Then I guess there is no harm in it. The illustrations, sparse as they are, are very reliant on context, so you should still be a very chipper young lad when that treatise is put down.'

Lucus picked up the book. Upon closer inspection, the purple spiral on the cover was actually a very fluid script converging upon the middle. Fascinated, Lucus opened up to what had to be the index, although he could not make out the characters written down. Flicking through page after page, Lucus saw the occasional black-and-white illustration: one was of a bipedal figure with a spiral emanating from his navel; one looked to be a spiral galaxy; and one, bizarrely, was just a large black dot in the middle of the page.

"Is this some new theory on Spiral Power, Mister Merlin?" Lucus asked.

'...You could say that,' Merlin said, looking up to the sky.

Lucus had noticed that Merlin was being unusually downcast for such a brilliant-minded individual. His smiles and laughs were few and far between compared to what Salasine had shown of him in all the newsreels. It was really offputting.

"Are you alright, Sir Merlin?" asked Salasine.

Lucus reached for Merlin.

"Why are you so sad, mister?"

Merlin took up his staff, and stood to his full height quickly - or as quickly as he could at the age of 64, which was ancient by Avalonian standards, who only lived to about 50 on average. The five Thorndrigan boys all startled and backpedaled several steps. Merlin raised a hand slowly, beckoning them back to him.

Reluctantly, Lucus stepped forward first, followed by Salasine, then by Gnonine, then Undenine, then Syne.

Smiling sadly, Merlin placed a hand upon each of their heads, one after the other. First Salasine (who shuddered slightly), then Gnonine, then Undenine, then Syne, and finally, Lucus.

'Each of you are exceptional in terms of the Spiral Power you hold,' he said slowly. 'Young Lucus Darkoak in particular. You are, all five of you, particularly relevant to my latest treatise.' Merlin paused. 'I don't believe I learned the rest of your names.'

"I'm Salasine Blacknarcissus, Sir Merlin!" said Salasine, almost dropping the pompaai ball.

"My name is Gnonine Pale-Bayleaf," Gnonine said, flicking a brown lock out of his eyes.

"I am Undenine Redpine," said Undenine with crossed arms.

"And I'm Syne Yellowzelkova," Syne said, standing erect.

Merlin closed his eyes slowly, bowing his head.

'Your names are all so similar. Are you related, perchance?'

"Not as far as we know, mister," said Syne, scratching his chin.

'It is of no relevance,' Merlin said. 'In point of fact, this only reinforces my speculation that _all_ Spiral life is seeing an increase in the power of the Spiral.'

"And that's a _good_ thing, right?" asked Undenine.

Merlin looked to the sky.

'Who can say, really? Helixology is a rather... let's say, ambiguous science.'

He looked down to the five boys again.

'My granddaughter Merlina has just been elected as the youngest President in Avalonian history,' he said with a sudden brightness. 'The minimum age of President-Elect of Avalon is 15, but Merlina scored full marks _and beyond_ at Zhēmera University for her broad degrees of wisdom and lateral thinking, so she was elected at the age of 14. I would like very much to bring you boys along with me to a celebratory party. You boys are the future of the universe, and I am sure she would just _love _to meet you.'

"I'd _love_ to go!" Salasine said eagerly, throwing the pompaai ball high into the air, a brief flicker of the green light of Spiral Power in his eyes. Passersby gave him slightly alarmed looks - one couple gave strong glares when their baby began to cry - and Salasine recalled just how out-of-character he had been behaving since he had met Merlin.

He cleared his throat awkwardly.

"I - I mean, of _course_ I will grace you and yours with my presence."

Syne chuckled, nudging Undenine in the ribs with his elbow.

"We'll have to ask our folks to let us go off-planet, though, Salasine," Gnonine said. "And I'm not sure if Mom will let me. I mean, do you remember that time when we camped out overnight outside the city? I don't think my left thorn's been the same since then..."

"I don't see why we can't go," Lucus said reasonably. "Just ask _real_ nicely and be prepared to do a _lot_ of favors when we get back."

'Perhaps my clout could be useful in persuading your families, if necessary,' said Merlin. 'I'm quite sure that your parents want you to learn as much about the world as possible.'

"Well..." Syne said. "More like, they want us to learn how to be good family-men."

Merlin tilted his head, leaning on his staff.

'Well, in any case, I cannot see a refusal. This is a very significant event for the galaxy. You'll have taken your first steps into a larger world.'

And so Merlin followed the five young Thorndrigan boys, their game of pompaai ball long since forgotten. Merlin concealed his book within his robes, never bothering to mention to the boys the title of the thesis.

_上陸_

"Attention, passengers: We are preparing to revert into realspace in orbit over Avalon," came the pilot's voice over the speaker system. "Please ensure that your seatbelts are securely fastened. We will be experiencing some minor turbulence as we enter the Avalonian atmosphere."

'So keep an eye out the window, lads, and you should get your first view of Avalon once we revert out of the perceptual warp,' Merlin said to the five Thorndrigan boys.

They were presently in the cabin of a space cruiser. It was only a day since they had met Merlin, and they were on their way to an election party for his granddaughter Merlina. As perplexing as the circumstances were in which they'd met, it was a blast that they were working their way up. Lucus's father Kazma had always told him that higher connections were what led to great success, and was all too eager to vouch for Lucus's journey to this monumental event.

Lucus pressed his face and hands against the window; his friends, split up into their own rows, seated with other beings from other planets heading to this same event. As momentous an occasion as this was, it drew in folk from all across the galaxy, and with such short-notice tickets as Merlin was able to purchase, Lucus and his friends were seated all in different rows. As he and his companions prepared to embark, Lucus saw passengers waiting to board who were Wisps from the B'neo System, Bem from the Swin Sector, Blodex from the Fromicae System, N'rrgal from the Hakmobei Sector... Lucus had wished he had two more heads so that he could take it all in. There was no intergalactic government of any sort, what with the different means of thinking that the various Spiral races had from each other, so for so many different races to be converging on a single planet...

Avalon truly was a planet of consequence in the universe.

And in a few moments, Lucus would be seeing it.

"We are now exiting the perceptual warp, passengers," the pilot's voice said again. "Those on the right-hand side of our forward motion should be getting a good view of Avalon."

The streaks of color and light on the outside of the window faded, leaving a black void with pinpricks of starlight. The left-side windows tinted to block out the light of Alma XVIII - Avalon's sun - so that the left-side passengers were not blinded.

And...

"Ooooooh...!"

Avalon was a glistening orb of steel so large as to appear perfectly smooth from orbit, although there were undoubtably skyscrapers to dwarf the skyscrapers on other planets in the same way that a mountain dwarfed a mohl-hill. For the planet of Avalon had been built up from the minerals mined from various dead systems in the Alma Sector, to the point that the planet was now several times larger than its own star. As a result, the planet had been artificially moved to a position much further out from its star, such that gravitational forces would not pull it too roughly towards Alma XVIII.

As the space cruiser drew closer, Lucus and his fellow passengers caught glimpses of many, many residences the size of entire cities. He could only guess at the wealth that these people possessed to own entire stretches of real estate on the surface of the planet. What lay _beneath_ the surface of Avalon, in the mechanized recesses that stretched for millions of miles beneath?

The space cruiser entered the atmosphere and entered a traffic lane that took it towards the nearest spaceport.

Now that he was actually at the same level as the skyscrapers of Avalon, Lucus could see various open-air stadium-looking places, but without any sort of markings that would indicate any sports that were played in them. How strange. What did Avalonians do for fun?

In time, the space cruiser made it to its scheduled docking bay, and the pilot's voice said, once more, "Ladies and gentlemen of all races, welcome to Avalon. We hope that you enjoy your stay. Your baggage will be delivered to the baggage recovery zone. But until then, as they say here on Avalon: mind the gap."

_受賞演説_

Salasine was practically wetting himself with excitement. And Lucus could almost see why, although he was more struck with awe by what he was seeing.

They were standing in a grand hall, opulently decorated with majestic heraldry and elegantly carved figures of ancient Avalonian philosophers and inventors, theorists and theoreticians. It had to be at least three miles to the roof, two miles from one wall to the other, and ten miles from the head of the hall to the entrance. And, according to Merlin, this was one of the more _modest_ speaking chambers, especially compared to the Chamber of Hearspell, the parliamentary body which ran the Avalonian global government alongside the President. And yet, this particular hall was stuffed nearly full to bursting of Avalonians and supporters of Merlina's future administration, awaiting Merlina Daughter Of Marlon Merlin's Son and her acceptance speech regarding her election.

For Lucus's part, though, he realized pretty quickly upon disembarkment why the Avalonians had such expansive spaces to dwell in: it was because the usual married couple of Avalonians had at least a dozen children, and men could have as many as three wives. (Which seemed rather redundant to Lucus, until Merlin explained that Avalonian birth rates were three females born for every one male born.) Also, it became pretty apparent that Avalonians' favored means of entertainment was discourse of abstract concepts such as superposition, higher dimensions, the afterlife, and other such stuffy nonsense that Lucus could not make heads or tails of.

But even accounting for the needs of very large families, Avalonians seemed to enjoy wide, open spaces in which their discussions of highfalutin concepts that went right over Lucus's head could be heard with great clarity.

"Mister Merlin, why isn't there an echo in here?" he asked, turning in his seat to face the old theoretician. "There's always an echo in big rooms on TV."

'There are technological baffles built into the walls,' Merlin explained, 'That prevent echoes. This is a means by which miscommunication of knowledge is prevented.'

Lucus nodded absentmindedly, because it looked like there was some sort of commotion going on up at the podium - according to the liquid-crystal displays every few hundred feet up the hall.

"So, Mister Merlin," Gnonine asked, "Why are you not backstage with your family and granddaughter?"

Merlin turned to look at the young Thorndrigan slowly.

'They don't know that I'm here,' he said conspirationally. 'I plan to make something of a surprise appearance when she has finished her speech.'

Gnonine nodded, making a small interested _Hmm_.

At that moment, one of the knight-shaped mechas standing on either side of the stage that held the podium raised an arm and fired off a flash of light into the air. The babel and hullabaloo ceased almost immediately.

Lucus did not understand the Avalonian language, so he did not know exactly what the mecha's pilot was saying through the knight-mecha, but it held his attention regardless.

Then it gestured towards the podium, and Lucus swore that he heard the words _Merlina_, _Marlon_, and _Merlin_ before the audience exploded.

And then an angel stepped up to the podium, supporting herself on a large staff, facing the audience.

Merlina had cherubic features... or at least, Lucus assumed that she did by Avalonian standards. Unlike their male counterparts, female Avalonians were tall and lithe, with more peach-tone to their skin. Their ears and eyes were smaller, and they had small button-noses exactly in the middle of heart-shaped faces. Merlina in particular had long magenta hair tied into a large braided ponytail. Her ornate purple robes shimmered in the light.

The acceptance speech that Merlina gave was in Avalonian, and as such there was very little of it that Lucus understood of it. However, he could tell that it was a very stirring bit of speaking for the other Avalonians, because Lucus saw on the television screens images of many Avalonians shedding tears of joy, breaking into broad smiles. Whatever it was that Merlina was talking about, it definitely resonated in the voting public.

The nearest display carried subtitles in the Seedrian language, but most of what was being said by Merlina was way over Lucus's head, so he gave up on trying to parce out what it was that she was saying.

And the speech went on...

And on...

And on...

Pretty soon, Lucus found himself flying through space, drilling through asteroids with a hand drill, hurling drill-shaped darts at enemies too distant to discern...

And then...

"_Lucus!_ Wake _up_! The speech is over!"

Lucus sat up bolt upright. He hadn't even realized he had fallen asleep. He felt almost ashamed for having slept through something so momentous.

He turned to apologize to Merlin, but Merlin waved him off before he could even open his mouth.

'No need to apologise, Lucus,' Merlin said. 'It was a rather long speech for you, about three hours. But Merlina has some wondrous plans in store for Avalon. I couldn't be more proud of her.'

He beckoned.

'Now, what say you five to a surprise visit to the President-Elect of Avalon?'

_次期大統領_

Behind the grand hall in which Merlina daughter of Marlon Merlin's son was a much humbler hall in which the friends and family of President-Elect Merlina could rub elbows and wind down after a rough campaign... And by humbler, it was still large enough to comfortably accomodate her score-and-a-half of aunts and uncles, and her scores of cousins, and her hundreds of campaign workers.

And, of course, her father, Marlon son of Merlin Merlinus's son.

Merlina presently found herself shaking a lot of hands and being congratulated by friend, family, and campaign member alike. If her hand became calloused just from shaking hands on this day, Merlina would not have been surprised.

It was not as though Merlina had lost track of how many relatives who were present. She had exactly twenty-three aunts (technically, twenty-four, but Aunt Marlene had died one year ago) and eight uncles, four-hundred-seventy-six cousins, two-hundred-sixty-seven first cousins once removed, and her father (her mother had died giving birth to her). Which meant, she had seven-hundred-seventy-five family members present at this congratulatory party.

She had shaken hands exactly six-hundred-sixteen times thus far, and she'd had twice as many campaign members as there were family members present, and almost all of them were present.

She had a long ways to go yet before she was finished with handshaking... discounting those who would come back for seconds. And thirds. And more. What was sad was, Merlina did not doubt the prospect in the slightest.

So, Merlina found herself by one of many refreshment tables, pouring herself some Alma ale into a slim glass.

_It is a shame Aunt Marlene could not live to see this day_, Merlina thought, gingerly sipping some Alma ale. _I am most glad that Aunt Merilyn was able to organise everyone here for this..._

_Everyone but Grandfather..._

'Merlina, my dear!'

Merlina's grip on her walking staff nearly failed her in her shock. Her glass of Alma ale fell onto the table, though, staining the table with the beverage.

Had he really...?

_祖父と孫娘_

"So, Mister Merlin, why was your granddaughter using a staff...?" Undenine asked.

Merlin raised a tattooed eyebrow. 'Precocious youths, are you not? Well... you see... Merlina contracted a deathly illness when she was four, and she has been weak in the legs since then. She needs that staff to support herself, or she'll be literally unable to stand.'

"Poor girl," said Salasine.

"She should use Spiral Power to fix it," said Syne bluntly.

At this, Merlin suddenly rounded on them, looking uncommonly fierce, like a warrior of olden times. Salasine cowered under his gaze, even though he was not the one who pushed Merlin's button. Merlin took in a deep breath, as if preparing to yell...

Then he brought a hand to his head, covering his eyes.

'I have my reasons,' Merlin said shortly. 'But we need to meet up with Merlina. Come with me. Quietly.'

Cutting through the crowd - drawing a lot of double-takes from Avalonians, unused to seeing Merlin in such shabby brown robes - holding hands in a line, with Merlin holding Lucus's hand, Lucus holding Salasine's hand, Salasine holding Gnonine's hand, Gnonine holding Syne's hand, and Syne holding Undenine's hand - the small group eventually made their way to a small maglev car that would take them to the hall behind this grand hall, where the congratulatory party was being held.

'Merlina sent this invitation to me,' Merlin explained, producing a card covered with Avalonian writing, 'But I never got the opportunity to tell her that I had accepted it. So, I decided to turn this negligence of mine into a surprise.'

They disembarked from the maglev transport, and entered the celebratory hall.

The celebratory hall was much smaller and more intimate than the prior hall, but no less majestic. Compared to the main hall, this was really quite cramped. There were lots of tables covered in white linen cloth, each one decked out with many Avalonian dishes and beverages.

It took a fair bit more time - and a lot of conspirational shushing of friends and family of Merlina - to find the table where she was located, but at last they did. She was standing by the table which apparently was serving Alma ale, leaning on her intricate steel staff, drinking from a slim glass some amber-colored liquid that was likely Alma ale. She was facing away from them; her robes had a hood to them.

Merlin spread his arms wide, and smiled broadly as he said, 'Merlina, lia razīzai!'

She stumbled, dropping her glass on the table, the white cloth being dyed amber by the Alma ale.

Merlina turned, clearly stunned, her blue-green eyes wide with disbelief as she took in her grandfather whom she had apparently not expected to arrive. Then she broke into a radiant smile and cried out, 'Wazhutro!' as she spread her spare arm, leaning on her staff as her and her grandfather embraced (he was so much shorter than her that Merlina had to stoop).

Merlina had tears streaming down her face as her and her grandfather embraced, the two of them sharing words in elegant Avalonian. Lucus and his friends (except perhaps Salasine) understood none of what was being said, but it was still rather touching.

Grandfather and granddaughter pulled apart, and then Merlina caught sight of the five young Thorndrigan boys for the first time. She inquired to her grandfather about them, and he patted Lucus on the head first and foremost.

'Lucus Kalatami memna Voshritalliv,' Merlin said, patting each on the head and ruffling their hair as he named them, 'Wai yeba Salasine Mussosita, Gnonine Kalapë-Lakirehti, Undenine Shaknopuner, wai Syne Kelzaitev.'

'Walatro.'

Merlin started, but did not seem to have not expected that voice. Turning, he and Lucus's posse saw another male Avalonian, but looking a lot younger than Merlin. His tattooes were less elaborate, his skin had more of a peach tone, and his ruby-red hair was streaked with grey. He looked to bear the same aura of absolute loss and misery as Merlin did when Lucus first met him at Tuspio Park.

'My son, Marlon,' Merlin said shortly to Lucus and company. 'I have some business with him.'

Merlin placed an arm around his son's shoulder

'Marlon, mā ī.'

Merlin led Marlon away.

Merlina and Lucus's eyes met.

Lucus shrugged his shoulders.

She kneeled as best she could, placing her hands on Lucus's shoulders.

'Young Seedrian,' she said in her musical, Avalonian-accented voice, 'You do not know why I was so overjoyed to see Grandfather, do you?'

"No...?" Lucus answered uncertainly.

'It is because I believed Grandfather to be _dead_,' she said. 'When last I'd seen him, he had been practically catatonic. I fear for him. Follow me, O Thorndrigan brethren.'

And they followed discreetly behind Merlin and Marlon.

_父子_

Merlin led Marlon into a side room. He made sure that it was deserted before turning and keying in the security lock.

'Father, what brings you here?' Marlon asked. 'I thought that the sheer power of the Spiral on Avalon was taking its toll on you, forcing you to leave Avalon.'

'It had, my son,' Merlin said, 'but my time is short. The only reason I have lasted _this_ long is my will to keep going. I told you of its contents in brief, but I think it proper for you to know the treatise in its entirety.'

Reaching into his robes, Merlin produced a book with a purple spiral marking the front cover. Marlon took it, reading the spiraling title:

**Downward Spiral:  
A Treatise Regarding the Consequences of the Excess Use of Spiral Power**

Marlon looked up at Merlin significantly.

'What is the meaning of this...?'

'When you have finished reading this, explain my theory to Merlina,' Merlin said, leaning more heavily on his staff, 'and then - and _only _then - pass this book to her. She will need to know the dark side of evolution if she means to be President. She...'

Merlin began to cough violently, blood dribbling out of the corner of his mouth more profusely with each cough. Marlon dropped the book, grabbing his father by the arms.

'Father!'

Merlin looked into his son's eyes, tears blurring his vision.

'My son... I entrust the future of the universe... to you... of all my children...'

The door let out a loud beep, and it slid open, allowing in Merlina and the five Thorndrigan boys. Merlina gasped in horror at the sight of her grandfather's state.

'_Grandfather!_'

Merlin blinked slowly, turning to his granddaughter.

'My Merlina...' he reached out with a weak hand, cupping her angelic face. She took his hand in hers, tears flowing freely down her face as well. 'I'm going to see your grandmother soon... know that we always loved you... know that I wanted you... to live in a world that never...'

But whatever world it was that Merlin wanted his granddaughter to live in died with his last breath. Lucus brought a hand to his mouth; Salasine blinked in disbelief; Syne slumped in defeat; Gnonine hung his head and closed his eyes; Undenine wrung his hands.

Merlina and Marlon kneeled over the great Merlin's body as more observers flooded in. Merlina sobbed inconsolably, wringing her grandfather's now-cold hand. Merlin's face was completely peaceful, contrasting with the blood pouring out of his mouth, ears, and tearducts. Marlon, tears pouring silently down his face, took the _Downward Spiral_ thesis book and pocketed it.

As much as he would like to spare Merlina the fate of absolute despair, he knew he had no choice but to pass this knowledge on.

**つづく  
To be continued...**


	6. May You All Burn! 2

_(Trying to get back into the mood of writing again, so I'm going on a binge!)_

**天元突破  
フリーダムエメル  
〜パラレルワークス〜**

**Tengen Toppa  
Freedom Emerl  
~Parallel Works~**

**by**

**アムラス・フェラグンド  
Amras Felagund**

**May You All Burn!**

* * *

Four months after Merlin's sudden death, Lucus was still reeling. As short a time as he'd known the man, it was still surreal to realize that someone he'd known was now dead. His correspondence with Merlina was sporadic, but he did try in vain to console her over her loss. It was getting more difficult for her to find time to write to him because she was preparing for her inauguration. It had to be difficult, because in their video-communications, Lucus could swear that she was looking tired and underfed, as though she were pulling long hours overnight to get her administration ready. Her eyes were frequently red, as though she'd been crying.

As morose as Salasine could sometimes get now with his favorite person (other than himself) now dead, Merlina was most certainly suffering far more.

_She _had an inauguration day coming up soon, and she had some pretty big announcements to make, from what Lucus could gather.

_就任式_

Nelonë 17.

That meant that it was 9 Darmalā on Avalon.

Merlina's inauguration day.

Lucus and his friends were gathered around the television in Lucus's living room; while this inauguration was a big thing to Lucus's parents, it was not something they considered to be worthy of watching.

After all, the midday inauguration ceremony on Avalon was going to be past midnight here in Pämoa, Greengate.

So, it was just Lucus and his friends to watch Merlina's speech before Avalon, as President.

"How much longer, do you think?" Undenine asked.

"It was supposed to have started by now!" complained Syne.

"Really, Syne!" Gnonine snapped. "Can't you be a little more patient, even if it _is_ past our bedtimes? This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity...!"

"No, he's right," Salasine said, checking the clock. "It was supposed to start at exactly kelo'xie, and it's kelo'neay now."

Lucus counted on his fingers. "Three hours late..."

Salasine looked out the window, out at Alma XVIII, one of the brightest stars in the night sky.

"What's going on out there? A TV black-out isn't normal, and this is a _big _event."

Lucus looked worried.

"You don't think something happened on Avalon, do you...?"

Syne smirked, slapping Lucus on the back, nearly pitching him onto the carpet.

"Don't worry about Avalon, Lucus. They're, what, 500 trillion strong, aren't they? I'm sure Avalon can handle any trouble that comes their way."

"Of course they can!" Salasine piped in. "Don't you know? They have all sorts of technologies to protect themselves! They developed physical rendering, which means they can make a digital model on a computer become real-life matter! So, they could bring all kinds of weapons and spaceships if they needed to!"

Lucus smiled.

"Good thing you know so much about Avalonian technology, Salasine. I wouldn't be able to sleep at night, otherwise."

_破壊_

Two weeks passed. Lucus's video-communications with Merlina had stopped completely, though that wasn't too surprising.

What was surprising was that all communications with Avalon had ceased.

It was as though Avalon had slipped out of the galaxy completely.

But it wasn't as though a planet could just disappear...

Right?

Given how recently it was that the ability to travel between stars was developed, it really was unsurprising that there was not an intergalactic government to speak of. However, given the reactions that came about from Merlin's granddaughter being elected President of Avalon, it seemed that Avalonians were seen as primary leadership material by numerous species throughout the galaxy. The potential loss of Avalon would be a major setback for galactic peace, especially given the bloodmongering warlords that were out there.

But, for all anyone knew, Avalon was gearing up for some great new technology demo that would be revealed any day now.

Any thoughts along this line were dashed ten days after Merlina was supposed to be inaugurated.

"It's _gone_?"

"Sounds like it," Gnonine said. "One of my mom's other husbands is an astrologist, and he noticed something odd about Alma XVIII. It wasn't moving the way a star does when it's being orbitted by a massive object. So he looked, and... nothing."

"_Nothing_?"

"Nothing. Not even debris. It's like Avalon just... vanished."

"But, how could that happen? Avalon's a big planet. It's not like it could go anywhere."

Gnonine shrugged. "No clue. _Kuuses m__ı__ës_ was confused about it, too, and he has a degree in astronomy."

Lucus scratched his chin. "Do you think it was some sort of, like, cloaking device?"

"Even if it was," Gnonine persisted, "I think that Avalon would still be pulling at its star with gravity."

"I guess."

Lucus put a hand on the table, looking out the window at the bright sunny sky.

"Whatever happened, I hope that everyone's okay."

* * *

Four days later, the posse had met in Tuspio Park again, this time to play at Læivu Rangers. As usual, Lucus was playing the Purple Ranger, because he was the leader (and purple). It was a dark and cloudy day, but this was a day that they'd been planning for days now, and a little rain never hurt anybody.

"Læivu Rangers, assemble!"

"HO!" cried his four friends.

The five Thorndrigan boys struck a pose. It was fantastic. Then, one by one, they saluted as they said the title of each Læivu Ranger that they liked best on TV.

"Læivu Purple!"

"Læivu White!"

"Læivu Black!"

"Læivu Yellow!"

"Læivu Red!"

"And together..." Lucus said, pointing dramatically at the toy Ō-Roitso that Syne had set up as their "foe". "We will annihilate you and your sinister ways, villain!"

Ō-Roitso simply sat there, but in their imagination, he responded with a swish of his cape and a maniacal laugh. _You FOOLS! I would like to see you try! But you will fail! The universe belongs to ME!_

"Not with this, our _most ultimate of finishing moves_!" Lucus shouted, pointing to the skies. "As long as we have our friends, we will _always win_!"

The five of them put their right hands together, bringing them up slowly, each one humming to imitate the sound of building energy.

"_Final Finisher...!_" the five of them chanted in unison.

They had been building up to this for days.

All of this practice in secret time stolen away while they were at sleepovers.

It would come down to this.

They brought their five right hands toward the Ō-Roitso figure.

"_Friendship Magic Cannon!_"

And then something unexpected happened:

The distant buildings behind Ō-Roitso exploded, clouds of black smoke and orange fire billowing up to the branches of Plasati Castle looming over the edge of the park. Shrapnel charred black from the detonation started flying their way. It was moving very slowly.

Which meant that the debris was very large.

_And it was coming their way._

"RUN!" Lucus shouted.

His friends did not need telling twice. In an instant, they bolted towards the opposite end of Tuspio Park, along with the scores of other visitors to the park, screaming as they ran.

"_What the heck just happened?_" Undenine shouted.

"Did _we_ do that?" asked Syne, looking at his hand warily.

More buildings around the park detonated, and now Lucus saw it. Amethyst energy blasts from the heavens were raining down on Pämoa, cutting holes through the clouds and reducing the tree-like buildings around Tuspio Park to rubble and smoke.

The clouds dispersed, and everyone froze.

The sun was being eclipsed, but not by one of Greengate's moon. The source of the eclipse was a goliath dragon of black metal, its wings spanning from horizon to horizon, its six red eyes gleaming demonically on each of its three heads. The energy blasts were coming from its silvery underbelly.

"What the _fuck_ is that?" screamed an orange Thorndrigan.

"IT'S THE FINAL MOVA!" a Petali screeched, her hands flying to her face. "EVERYONE, RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!"

Almost at once, the holographic projectors on the few remaining buildings around Pämoa activated, showing the white-haired Queen Hortensia, her pale-blue-green hair shimmering beneath the twin bushels of white hydrangea flowers on either side of her head.

Her voice boomed out with artificial amplification over the chaos spreading throughout the city.

"Remain calm, people of Greengate!" she said. "Our planet is under attack by enemies unknown, but this is no reason to lose sense! Our casualties are already heavy, but we must remain calm! Emergency evacuation transports are being prepared in the underground shelters as we speak!"

The holograms of Queen Hortensia Whiteaspen winked out one after the other as the 'Final Mova' fired its lasers upon the populace.

Lucus reached out his hand to his friends, who were cowering from the din of explosions and screams.

"Guys, c'mon! We gotta get to a transport! Our parents are worried for us!"

"But then, we should go back _home_!" Syne interjected.

"If we go home, we'll just get blown up, though," Lucus argued. "If we get on a transport, we're at least going to live, and our parents are probably lucky enough to be on their way already." He held out his hands again. "We've got to go to the shelters, guys. Trust me. Please. I've never steered you wrong before, have I?"

Hesitating for only a moment, Gnonine took Lucus's hand, and Salasine took Gnonine's shaking hand. Lucus took Syne's hand in his other free hand, and Syne took Undenine's hand.

And Lucus took off.

Some new drive inside Lucus seemed to have bloomed inside of him, and he found himself darting through the crowd towards the nearest underground shelter. Ordinarily, a Thorndrigan would switch from being bipedal to quadrupedal when running due to to his tail, but this was impossible for Lucus with both of his hands wrapped around his friends' hands. Even so, he was somehow running much faster than he would have even thought possible, even on four legs. His friends were being jostled against the Seedrians darting back and forth, and against each other, but they attempted to keep pace with Lucus. However, this seemed to be a futile effort, as Lucus was running as though possessed.

If any of them could have seen his face, they would have seen a green glow like emeralds shining in his eyes.

His inner Spiral had been awakened.

The streets were already littered with ash and debris and blood from the Seedrians unlucky enough to be struck by the detritus of the destroyed buildings. With all the confusion of the sudden invasion by what could pass for a creature of apocalyptic lore, the streets were a mass of chaos as people darted every which way trying to run as far as they could from the destruction. Lucus hoped against hope that these people would settle down and realize that they only had to run in one particular direction to get to the nearest shelter. And the nearest emergency transport.

After several grueling minutes of uncertainty about whether he and his friends would make it to the shelter in one piece, Lucus found himself standing in front of a small, but heavily fortified building with a solid steel door that hung open. A Spiral Shield over it was doing its duty to deflect any errant attacks, but it probably would not hold much longer.

Lucus sighed heavily, letting his friends' hands go, wiping sweat from his brow.

"How'd you do that, Lucus?" asked Undenine.

"Do what?"

"You were moving so fast!" Salasine added emphatically. "I've never _seen_ anyone move that fast. Not even _I _could move that fast."

Lucus looked up to the three-headed dragon which continued to rain death and destruction upon Greengate.

"Wasn't fast enough," he said darkly.

In minutes, they were inside the emergency underground shelter, which was a dark network of fortified steel chambers snaking around thousands of feet under the city. There were emergency provisions in the event of a planetary bombardment or an extended winter brought on by primitive nuclear devices.

And, of course, hangar bays for emergency transports, in case of the need for a planetwide evacuation.

It was much more organized inside the shelter, because there were mechas that were directing people to the emergency transports that were not yet full to optimum capacity, but still, there was the occasional sob or shriek heard whenever the lights flickered, which usually came in time with an earth-shaking rumble.

Lucus turned to one of the police mechas, looking up to its head thirty feet overhead.

"Officer, could you direct me and my friends to the transport?"

"Of course, young Thorndrigan," boomed the police mecha, pointing off down a hallway. "Just keep going straight and take the ninth door on your left. Sector 9 is available."

"Thank you, sir," said Lucus, snapping off to a salute, before beckoning his friends down the hallway to join the people heading for the entrance to sector 9. The Thorndrigan just ahead of them was a nervous wreck; he had lost track of his son on the way to the shelter, and had no idea where he was.

Lucus and his friends were near to the door to sector 4 when the greatest quake shook the shelter so hard that most everyone stumbled; several actually lost their footing and fell.

The lights went out. Several people screamed.

The emergency-power lights came on, bathing everything in blood-red light.

A PA activated, and a deep voice boomed out throughout the emergency shelter:

**"THE PLASATI CASTLE HAS FALLEN. THE WHITEASPEN FAMILY IS DEAD. PLEASE REMAIN CALM. PLEASE MOVE IN AN ORDERLY FASHION..."**

These last two sentences need not have been uttered, because in the instant that the news broke out about the decapitation of Greengate's government, any semblance of order inside the shelter was immediately dispelled. Screams of terror and despair broke out as people began to barge past one another, not even caring about their assigned transports, and trying to reach any that would take them. Several got knocked over, and some got trampled.

Lucus and his friends stared around in fear. The royal family had been killed by this mysterious invader. The military would be ineffective against a foe in orbit who was so large. How would they get out of this alive?

The answer came in the form of the police mechas, who set off their sirens and their flashing red lights, waving glow-batons about to grab the people's attention.

"RETURN TO YOUR LINES!" boomed the police mecha who had directed Lucus and company to their queue. "THE MORE THAT YOU DELAY YOUR ESCAPE FROM GREENGATE, THE MORE LIKELY YOU ARE TO BE KILLED!"

This did not do a great deal to dissuade the terror, but it did at least get people to get back into lines, even if it was not necessarily the lines that they originated from. Thankfully for Lucus and his friends, they were still in the line for sector 9.

Tensions were high. Several Seedrians were shifting from one foot to the other; many were sobbing. One Petali was going into labor. Lucus just wanted it all to end.

"This is a nightmare," Gnonine breathed.

"If it's a nightmare," whimpered Undenine, "when are we gonna wake up?"

Syne placed an arm around Undenine's shoulder.

Salasine and Lucus merely exchanged worried glances.

After an eternity, the five had reached the entrance to sector 9. A police Thorndrigan was standing there in his black uniform.

"Names, please."

"Lucus Darkoak."

"Gnonine Pale-Bayleaf."

"Salasine Blacknarcissus, of course."

"U-Undenine Redpine."

"Syne Yellowzelkova."

The police officer checked their names against a handheld computer, and did a double-take.

"You are the first of _each _of your families to make it here," he said. "With any luck, they made it to another shelter. Please hurry to the transport."

Lucus and his friends moved briskly into the docking bay. A large chamber awaited them, and they met a large needle-shaped space cruiser, with ramps leading up into the ship. One of the ramps, labeled '9', stood directly in front of them. Far above the evacuation transport, Lucus could make out two rows of lights that indicated a hatch that allowed for ease of escape to the surface.

He looked back and forth at Gnonine and Salasine, and at Syne and Undenine.

"We made it, guys!" he said with empty bravado and a false smile. "We're gonna make it!"

_滅亡_

Pämoa was unrecognizable. Plasati Castle's collapse had led to its various branch-like extensions crushing entire stretches of cityscape that had otherwise been shaded by its arms. Tens of thousands had already been slain by the 'Final Mova' hovering in orbit over Pämoa, and much of the city's infrastructure had been obliterated.

Suddenly, at thirteen points in the city, several dozen city blocks slid away from each other and onto vacant spaces.

From each of the breaches in the city's block layout emerged a slim, sleek, needle-shaped emergency evacuation transport. Each one was predominantly white, with blue and yellow accents to them.

The Seedrians were not a race to actively pursue war and conflict, but were more apt to run. Such could be seen from the narrow profile of each of their emergency evacuation transports. To the untrained eye, the transports were almost laughably frail. However, hidden within each was a Spiral Shield generator to stave off the most powerful of enemy bombardments.

For emergencies only.

Lucus and his friends sat huddled together near to a wide viewport showing the city falling away beneath them. The city that they had each called home was being razed before their eyes.

They could only hope and pray that their time to become leaves on the branches of the great Tree of Life had not come yet. As it was right now, the 'Final Mova' had not yet noticed that the city's surviving denizens were fleeing.

Lucus looked around at the other people in this particular sector of the transport. Some were holding each other, glad that their significant other had survived with them; some were looking anxiously around for some loved one who was separated in the chaos; some were simply sobbing. One that he noticed, a Thorndrigan boy barely older than he himself was, was seated alone, his hands in his laps, his eyes staring vacantly, his mouth hanging open. He was breathing shallowly, and sat as still as a statue.

"Why did this happen...?" Lucus wondered aloud.

"I have no idea," Gnonine murmured, looking down at the smoldering Greengate capital through the viewport.

"I don't think that that dragon's gonna aim for us," Syne said hopefully.

"We can only pray that it hasn't noticed the transports," said Salasine darkly.

The way things stood, it seemed that this was the case. The 'Final Mova' was continuing to fire upon the Pämoa ruins, even though there surely could not be any more standing buildings. Or survivors. The transports were beginning to breach the atmosphere, and Pämoa was little more than a black stain on the ground. Plasati Castle was a heartbreaking site. It had stood and been built up for thousands of years, and was felled in mere minutes.

Just who _was _this foe?

"Lucus Darkoak?"

Startled from his revery, Lucus looked up, as did Gnonine, Salasine, Syne, and Undenine. A Petali officer was standing at attention near the door leading to the hallway.

"Captain Goldyew requests you and your companions' presence on the bridge," she said.

_どうだ！俺のトランペットは凄いだろ！！_

From the moment that he had joined the central government, Crysantem Goldyew had hoped that these emergency transports would never need to come into use. And if they ever did, he never dreamt even in his darkest dreams that their necessity would ever be because of such an extreme calamity.

Calamity...

_Kalatami... Darkoak..._

"Ensign Blueholly," he said.

"Yessir!" said the cobalt-haired young Petali.

"Do we have anyone by the name of Darkoak on any of the Pämoa transports?"

"Just a moment, sir," she said, checking her handheld. After a few moments, which entailed her eyebrows knitting together grimly, she said:

"Just one, sir. One Lucus Darkoak."

_One survivor of the Darkoak family..._ Crysantem thought. _I'm sorry, Lumila. I could only save your son._

"Bring him to the bridge. And whoever's with him."

If Ensign Blueholly had any reservations about bringing unauthorized personnel to the deck, she did not show it. She merely saluted and said, "Right away, sir!" before exiting into the main corridor.

Crysantem turned back to the main window after a few moments, looking out to the darkening sky as he neared the edge of the atmosphere. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the corner of the dragon hovering at the edge of the sky. It was at least as large as the city below it.

How could this have entered Greengate space without triggering any sort of alarm? An object of that size could not possibly have shielded itself from any sensors?

It was as though it just popped into existence over Greengate...

"Captain, they're here!"

Turning, Crysantem saw Ensign Blueholly, accompanied by five young Thorndrigan boys. At the head was a purple-haired and purple-skinned Thorndrigan with surprisingly delicate features.

Lucus.

Crysantem allowed himself a small smile.

"Hello, Lucus Darkoak," he said. "I am Captain Crysantem Goldyew."

"Why did you call us up here?" Lucus asked.

"Because I wanted to be sure you were safe," he said. "Your mother helped me out in a tight spot years ago, and I am indebted to her and the Darkoak family."

"Mom..." Lucus said, looking down at his feet. Then he looked up at Crysantem, clenching his fists. "Where's Mom? And Dad?"

Crysantem hesitated. This boy was still innocent, and had not been touched by the bleakness of the death of a loved one. Crysantem did not want to be the bearer of bad news, but it would not be a good idea to hide this from him for very long.

"Your name was the only name that came up searching for names under 'Darkoak'."

Lucus's arms went slack. As did his jaw. His eyes watered.

"I'm very sorry, kiddo. I really am. I don't want to have to tell you this."

"Captain! We've left the atmosphere!"

Crysantem turned his attention to his work immediately, though he did place a comforting hand on Lucus's shoulder.

"Very good," he said. "Once we've left the gravitational pull of the planet, we will warp into deep space to reach the rendezvous point."

The operations officer who'd made the announcement turned to the captain...

And he looked pale.

"Sir... That may not be so easy. Look at this."

He pressed a button, and an image came up on the main screen.

The edge of the planet Greengate was shown. Dragons were visible across the entire field of vision, shining hairlines visible even from this distance as they rained bolts of death down to vaporize entire cities.

Pämoa was not the only city being attacked. The _entire planet of Greengate _was.

Crysantem's arms fell to his sides.

"God help us..."

Then the ship started to quake violently.

"Captain!" cried the mechanic at his station. "We're starting to take fire! Our Spiral Shields won't repel firepower of this magnitude much longer!"

"Make it last!" Crysantem shouted, wiping sweat out of his eyes. "Take evasive action! Divert energy from all systems except life-support and propulsion towards the shields!"

"Sir! We've lost transports 3, 7, and 12!"

"Hold out, or we'll lose this transport, too!"

The main screen suddenly blared with a text message reading, _**INCOMING MESSAGE**_.

"Show message," said Crysantem.

The screen went black, save for stark white text. It read:

_**Foolish races of the Spiral, we are known as the Anti-Spiral. We have determined that the growth of Spiral Power is unchecked, and a menace to all. We will stamp out any who resist, or whose Spiral Power is too great. Do not make this difficult for yourselves. You have no chance to survive against our battleships. If you incur our ire, you will not long survive. Return to your planets, and do not attempt to resist. YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED.**_

Then the screen winked out.

"The Anti-Spiral..."

Crysantem turned to Lucus.

He gaped.

Lucus's fists were clenched, and his eyes were glowing green, as were his teeth and tears.

"Damn you, Anti-Spiral..." he growled.

Lucus raised his head to face the ceiling, and screamed,

"**MAY YOU ALL BURN!**"

And green light blinded them all.

_螺旋の力_

Emergency Pämoa Evacuation Transport No.9 began to emit a piercing green glow. There was no doubt in the surviving evac-transports that this was an act of the Power of the Spiral, though they could not know that this was the result of a single Seedrian boy.

Innumerable tendrils of emerald light with clockwise spirals leading up to the tips lanced out from the No.9, beelining for the nearest Anti-Spiral dragon battleships, penetrating each and every one of the weapons batteries hidden beneath their scales, ripping them out and leaving them to float away into space.

The light faded, the drills dissolved, but the memory of that light was seared into everyone's memories.

The energy blasts coming from each of the Anti-Spiral battleships ceased immediately.

Whatever force the Anti-Spiral were, they clearly sensed that this was an unanticipated impediment.

_究極の龍_

The bridge was completely still with shock. Hair was completely frizzed out in all directions because of the influx of Spiral energy around them. Lucus was on his hands and knees, breathing heavily. His four friends were kneeling around him,

Crysantem came back to his senses quickly.

"Quickly, while we have time. Key the coordinates for the rendezvous point into the Perceptual Teleportation System!"  
"Y-Yessir!" squeaked the mechanic.

In the space before the ship, a glowing purple square appeared in the far distance. As if it were a box opening, it produced another four squares, one on each side. Then each additional square produced another three squares, over and over until a glowing grid into darkness darker than space appeared before the evac-transports.

Emerging from this portal came a dragon of pure white scales, its seven eyes glowing a baleful blue. It was truly a behemoth.

A single word appeared on the main screen: _**EXCALIBUR**_

The navigations officer went white.

"S - Scans indicate that enemy vessel is... an Astronomical Unit in length!"

"_WHAT?_" shouted Crysantem.

"It's bearing down on us!"

"_ACTIVATE THE PERCEPTUAL TELEPORTATION SYSTEM _NOW_!_"

The dragon Excalibur opened its maw, revealing rows of teeth as long as its ebony brethren, and a piercing pinprick of light appeared in the middle of its mouth that was growing brighter far too quick for comfort.

And then everything went green, and the viewports went white...

And streaks of light and color overtook the whiteness.

Crysantem let loose the breath he hadn't realized he was holding. In an instant, the bridge became more relaxed.

"Transition to the rendezvous point in progress, Captain," said the mechanic shakily. "We should be safe."

"But Greengate is..." Ensign Blueholly breathed, wiping away a tear.

Over the next several minutes, the perceptual-space tunnel dissolved and reappeared as the nav-system made use of randomized perceptual jumps to throw off any possible pursuers. No one spoke; there were no other words that anyone could possibly say to make anyone else feel any better about this situation. All that anyone on the No.9 evac-transport could think of was the image of that monstrous dragon firing a beam of divine light upon their homeworld, annihilating their long history of peace and kindness.

Then, finally, the streaks of light and color dissolved to the rendezvous point: the Tree of Life Nebula. They had made it. The branching gases spread out millions of miles over the evac-transport.

Over the next few minutes, the radar picked up some ten or so more evac-transports appearing around them.

There were some four-thousand evac-transports on Greengate. And the ones that made it looked to be in sorrier shape than No.9. Most were scorched badly, and some were missing ailerons and engine banks. They would need to be serviced very soon.

Suddenly, the main screen showed the _**INCOMING MESSAGE**_ message again. Some of the crewmen gasped; one of the Petali actually screamed.

"Show message," said Crysantem warily.

The screen showed a single bluish-white ball-like creature. It had a single magenta eye, three tentacles, small antennae on either side of its 'head', and a curling appendage coming from above its eye.

It was a Wisp.

Everyone breathed a collective sigh of relief.

The Wisp began to chitter in its native tongue. Lucus could not understand it, but its body language was quite agitated.

"Does anyone here speak Wisp?" Crysantem asked.

"I do, sir!" piped up the communications officer.

"What is he saying?"

The communications officer crossed his arms, and said, "He says his name is Yacker, and that the 'Mother Wisp is dead'. She's the matriarch of the entire Wisp race."

Yacker brought two of his tentacles together, nodding sadly. Then he continued.

"Yacker says that their homeworld was attacked by 'big black death-lizards', and that his kind had to make a planetary evacuation. They have come to this nebula to regroup, it seems. He says that it was a 'gut feeling'."

Yacker the Wisp nodded emphatically, gesturing towards somewisp off-camera. A secondary screen popped up beneath him; it showed what looked like a chunk of earth with bluish-green plantlife on the plateau atop it. Several rudimentary huts were seen on top; this must have been the Wisps' evac-transport.

A chunk of their planet.

Yacker then continued with his spiel, and he looked especially distraught here. The communications officer began to look troubled.

"Yacker is saying that some of the evac-transports did not make it, and he fears for what become of the Wisps that were kidnapped by this enemy."

"Did the enemy identify themselves, Master Yacker?" asked Crysantem.

Yacker nodded, chittering briefly.

The communications officer froze up, then said in a low voice, "He says that the enemy called themselves the Anti-Spiral."

Tension swept the room.

"This wasn't an isolated attack on Greengate," Crysantem said darkly. "The Anti-Spiral are attacking planets of highly advanced Spiral races."

Salasine gasped.

"_Avalon!_ They must've got Avalon, too!"

Crysantem lowered his head, closing his eyes.

"They must have, which is a tragedy. All of those innocent civilians lost... It's heartbreaking to think that so many were slaughtered so heartlessly. In addition, Avalon's technology would have been a tremendous boon to aid against the Anti-Spiral."

"Maybe there're Avalonians who were off-world, though, Captain," Gnonine interjected. "If we can get in touch with them, we might stand a chance."

"Very astute, young man," Crysantem said, with a shadow of a smile, "But a few straggler Avalonians won't amount to a hill of seeds if we don't have the numbers to stand up. As it stands right now, the Anti-Spiral have us more than outmatched in power _and_ in numbers."

"Not in power."

Crysantem looked down to Syne in disbelief. Syne was scowling at him, patting the recovering Lucus on the back.

"Did you see what Lucus did? He practically tore those Anti-Spiral warships to pieces! He could do that again if he wanted, I'm sure of it! He could become a real-life hero!"

Yacker's eye widened in shock, but Crysantem met Syne with a look of dark foreboding.

"Young man, do you realize the toll that this took on your friend's body? He's exhausted. We would need a form of technology to channel that more effectively, if we don't want your friend to _die of exhaustion_ everytime he tries to use that. And you suggest using your own friend as a weapon against this foe? Who do you think you are?"

"A genius."

It wasn't Syne that spoke.

It was Lucus. He was standing upright once more, and his eyes were determined.

"I feel fine, Mister Goldyew. I could do that again, if I want to."

"So you're going to throw your life away to destroy the Anti-Spiral?"

"They killed my mom! My dad! My family!" Lucus began to cry. "I can't just let them go an' get away with that! Would _you_?"

"We're getting off-topic," Crysantem snapped hotly. "We have to broadcast a long-range distress signal, to see if there's anyone out there who can—"

_**MESSAGE RECEIVED**_

Crysantem faced the main screen with incredulity.

"Accept message," he said with a very slight laugh at the irony.

Yacker's image on the main screen was shunted off to the side, and the other half of the screen featured a single four-armed and green-skinned alien with large golden eyes. It was a Bem. She took a moment to take in who she was facing, then sighed.

"Thank goodness someone answered," she said in her Argentiumi accent. "I and my sisters Bem were afraid that others would not answer. I am Ceneca-6573, and our homeworld Argentium was beset by black monsters from the stars!"

"As was ours," said Crysantem. "Greengate has fallen, and we suspect that Avalon's disappearance is connected as well."

Ceneca-6573 looked immensely troubled.

"My stars! Avalon has fallen? This is most unfortunate for the scientific community!"

"...I would think that the loss of their lives would be more of an issue than their scientific accomplishments, although that would surely be of assistance presently."

"Apologies," said Ceneca-6573. "We sisters Bem assumed that all races shared our fondness for the sciences."

_**MESSAGE RECEIVED**_

"Accept message," said Crysantem without hesitance.

The screen split into thirds, with Yacker on the left and Ceneca-6573 in the middle. On the right appeared a large purple jellyfish with at least twenty pink suckered tentacles. In the middle of its expanded cranium was a single bloodshot yellow eye. It had no visible mouth, but when it spoke, it was with a mechanical screech that indicated that it did not have natural speech capabilities.

—_THE XORDA HOMEWORLD HAS BEEN OBLITERATED BY A _FOOLISH_ ENEMY RACE!—_ it said. _—THIS GRIEVOUS OFFENSE WILL NOT BE TOLERATED! THE ANTI-SPIRAL SHALL BE __**EX-TER-MIN-ATED**__!—_

"The 'Anti-Spiral'?" asked Crysantem.

"Anti-Spiral..." growled Lucus.

Yacker chittered in surprise.

"The 'Anti-Spiral'?" Ceneca-6573 gasped. "The selfsame foe laid waste to our Argentium!"

The Xorda shifted its eye to focus on Ceneca-6573.

—_DO NOT ATTEMPT TO INTERFERE WITH THE XORDA IN THEIR CAMPAIGN OF VENGEANCE! SUCH AN ATTACK ON THE XORDA WILL NOT __**EV-ER **__BE FORGIVEN! THE XORDA ALONE SHALL CLAIM REVENGE UPON THE ANTI-SPIRAL!—_

"Pardon me, Mister Xorda!" Crysantem shouted, and the Xorda's eye focused on him.

"Xorda is not the only world that has fallen to the Anti-Spiral. Greengate is obliterated, Avalon has vanished, and the planets of the Wisps and the Bem have also been wiped out. We cannot be trying to race each other to destroy the Anti-Spiral. We must work together if we hope at all to be successful."

The Xorda paused to think for a moment, during which time the siphons above its eye let loose streams of bubbles (Xorda were aquatic beings).

—_...THE XORDA WILL ACCEPT YOUR ASSISTANCE IN THE EX-TER-MIN-AT-ION OF THE ANTI-SPIRAL.—_

"Thank y—"

—_BUT THE XORDA SHALL STRIKE THE FINISHING BLOW, WHEN ALL ANTI-SPIRAL LIFE HAS BEEN ANNIHILATED FOR ALL TIME!—_

Crysantem sighed, giving his new allies - Wisp, Bem, and Xorda - a weary smile.

"Well, it's a start. For now, we should all rendezvous at Teragosa 6, if _they_ haven't been hit yet. We'll need their computing power if we want to stand a tree's chance in a star against the Anti-Spiral."

_反乱_

Lucus sat huddled in the corner with his friends. Their attempts at consoling him had thus far been fruitless. For the past several hours, they'd been shunted aside by the crewmen as they shared the sudden onslaught of new information from other evacuees - and not just the evacuees from Greengate. The Wisps had lost their homeworld as well, and the Anti-Spiral had taken many Wisps captive. The sisters Bem of Argentium, the Wheel World, had been robbed of their planet, and the Xorda had become wandering warlords as well.

And now they were off to who-knows-where with a bunch of aliens from these lost worlds to go meet up with who-knows-who, to battle an enemy who had come in from out of nowhere and killed so many people.

Killed...

Death...

Home... gone.

Lucus let out a wail.

"And we were just playing Læivu Rangers before all this bad stuff happened!" he sniffled.

"I know," Undenine said. "I really wish I'd told Mom & Dad that I loved them... before..."

"Yeah," Gnonine added. "We all do."

Salasine looked out the window at the world of Teragosa 6 below. The purple city-planet had, miraculously, not been struck by the Anti-Spiral yet, though from what he'd heard, they were going to evacuate as much computer equipment as possible before the inevitable strike.

"Those Xorda are kinda... hot-headed, aren't they?" Undenine asked, trying to break the ice.

"Rather like someone I know," Salasine said.

"_Hey_! I'm not _that_ bad!"

"I was talking about Syne."

"_Hey_!" Syne balled up his fists. "You wanna make something of it?"

"I'd rather not," Salasine said icily. "I'd rather not risk the chance of looking like you."

"_Why you..._"

Lucus stood up abruptly.

"GUYS! SHUT... UP!"

His eyes flashed green, and the four stopped quarreling.

Lucus took a deep breath.

"Guys... This is hard on all of us, but we can't fight with each other," he said, trying to keep his voice level. "We all lost everything today, but we can't lose each other. Once we do... We _have_ to stick together, and kick the Anti-Spirals in the ka-tuckus!"

"Wise words from someone so young," came a voice from the doorway. It was Ceneca-6573. She was giving Lucus a very interested look. She stepped forward.

"I have just been briefed on what you accomplished to help your evac-transport escape," she said, putting her top-left hand on his head, picking him up with her lower pair of arms. "And I must say, using the evac-transport itself as a conduit for your inner Spiral is very intriguing. However, it is not without heavy risks. That may have been a one-time thing, but on the other hand, it may not have. In the meantime, perhaps we should consider some means of amplifying a comparitively small amount of Spiral Power, so that you can battle the Anti-Spiral without putting yourself in any more risk than necessary."

Lucus brightened.

"Really?"

Ceneca-6573 smiled.

"Of course. This could take a long time, though. Years, maybe."

"I don't want to wait years!"

Ceneca-6573 cocked an eyebrow. "Do you really want to kill the Anti-Spiral so badly?"

"No, I _don't_ want to kill them! I just... don't want _them_ to kill anymore..."

The Bem scientist beamed.

"Just the answer I was hoping for."

She lowered him to the ground.

"The Teragosan scientists are receptive to the idea of a hypothetical Spiral Power Magnification Conduit Interface, but the materials that we need... well, we simply can't pull the materials we need out of thin air. We'll need to travel beyond the galaxy into the wider universe to get the materials we'll need to magnify an individual's Spiral Power. And with _your_ level of Spiral Power..."

She tousled his hair.

"The war against the Anti-Spiral should end pretty quickly once you enter the fray."

Ceneca-6573 stepped back out through the door.

"Well, I really must get back to discussing the logistics of our rebellion against the Anti-Spiral. Best of luck, Lucus Darkoak and friends!"

The door closed.

Lucus stood erect, his eyes shining with a new determination. Syne and Undenine stood at his left, and Gnonine and Salasine at his right, as he gazed out at the stars beyond Teragosa 6.

The interstellar void would soon become torn with _war_.

**CHAPTER TWO:  
May You All Burn!**

**つづく  
To be continued...**


	7. May You All Burn! 3

_(Must give more~!)_

**天元突破  
フリーダムエメル  
〜パラレルワークス〜**

**Tengen Toppa  
Freedom Emerl  
~Parallel Works~**

**by**

**アムラス・フェラグンド  
Amras Felagund**

**May You All Burn!**

* * *

**CHAPTER 3:  
I'll Meet Them Head On!**

Lucus sat up bolt upright in bed. He looked around, breathing heavily. He looked back and forth across the barracks, taking in his surroundings, making sure that everything was in order.

Then he rested his head in his palm.

The nightmares just would not leave him be...

Not even after ten years.

Throwing off the covers, he shuffled across the room, past rows of beds of similarly uneasy sleepers. The races who had lost their homeworlds to the Anti-Spiral had only grown in the intervening years: now joining the Wisps, Seedrians, Bem, and Xorda were the Teragosans, the Azurites, the Voxai, the Bzzzz, the Blodex, the Kron, the N'rrgal... the list just kept growing...

Some, like the Kaamdaarn, were not so lucky as to escape the Anti-Spiral...

At least _they_ could sleep now.

Lucus had not had a decent night's sleep since... well, since his parents were still alive.

He really needed a pick-me-up.

In a matter of minutes, following his feet which subconsciously led him in a particular direction that they led him on particularly bad nights, Lucus found himself in the mess hall.

Letting himself smile blearily, Lucus dragged himself over to the drink dispenser and activated the console. Bathed in blue light, Lucus tapped away at the computer screen, muscle memory telling his fingers which places on the screen to tap so that he would get his favored pick-me-up.

In moments, he was seated at one of the broad tables, alone, drinking his sorrows away.

These headquarters were thrown together nine years ago in the Tree of Life Nebula, a colony constructed according to the schematics designed by Burrnyl, a surviving Avalonian offworlder. This Burrnyl Sphere was built to house the refugees of worlds lost to the Anti-Spiral who were willing to lay their lives down on the line to put the Anti-Spiral down.

Of course, there were many millions and billions of refugees who refused to battle the Anti-Spiral, who believed that it was pointless and hopeless to resist, who fled this galaxy for one less hostile.

Lucus thought they were stupid.

Without hope, what does _anyone_ have?

_Well_, Lucus quipped to himself. _A person without hope can have a good drink._

"Can't sleep, either?"

He looked up.

It was Ceneca-6913. She looked identical to Ceneca-6573, or rather, she looked identical to whoever the original Ceneca was. All Bem looked and sounded exactly the same. It had taken Lucus a lot of time - and more than a few awkward miscommunications - to learn to differentiate Bem on sight.

He raised a hand in welcome.

"That last battle was a little too close for my taste," he said to the base of his glass.

"Really?" Ceneca-6913. "Your Gizoid didn't have a scratch on it. You really are an exceptional pilot."

"It's not that," Lucus said. "We lost Marmolin. Even though I tried so hard to protect them..."

He slammed the glass on the table.

"DAMN IT! _Can't we make _any_ sort of headway against those damned Anti-Spirals?_"

Ceneca-6913 reached out a hand.

"You know you're just saying that."

Lucus sighed.

"Yeah, I know. It's just been a bad night for me. When the morning comes, I'll be more than ready to take on the Anti-Spiral's army again. But for now..." He hung his head. "If only we could know what they're thinking. How much of their army have we chipped away at? _Just how much longer do I have to fight?_"

Ceneca-6913's hand touched Lucus's. He looked up at her. She was smiling.

"Perhaps you'd like a refresher about what we have that allows us to keep fighting?"

_螺旋の希望_

The elevator door clanged open, and Lucus and Ceneca-6913 stepped out into the hangar bay. It was not a hangar for cruisers or starships.

It was a hangar for their special weapons against the Anti-Spiral:

Mechas that were powered by their pilots' own Spiral Power.

Developed with the aid of the Teragosa 6 supercomputers, weaponized by the Xorda, and built with the acoustics of helixology in mind to allow for adaptability on any battlefield: the Gizoids.

_**反アンチスパイラル型可動メカ  
ギゾイド  
The anti-Anti-Spiral-type mobile cockpit mecha  
Gizoid**_

The Gizoids came in many different shapes, and very few were ever exactly the same. Some resembled tanks with arms and legs instead of treads; some had opposable jaws for crushing blows; some were tall and thin; some were short and broad; some could be driven by multiple pilots and split into individually piloted units. But all had the same general shape of a head with arms and legs.

"The Gizoids..." Lucus said. No matter how down he got, seeing the fruits of his and his comrades' labors always brightened his mood.

"Yes," Ceneca-6913 smiled. "And don't forget, that the Gizoids were developed primarily to be mobile cockpits."

Lucus nodded. "Yeah. For the Star Gizoids."

"City-sized units that can be piloted only by the corresponding Gizoid unit. Development is going swimmingly. And once they're in use..."

A smile crossed Lucus's stolid features.

"The war against the Anti-Spiral will turn."

Almost absentmindedly, Lucus then walked along the row of Gizoids, passing by mechas of various colors and shapes.

And then, finally, he reached a group of five Gizoids that he was particularly proud to see.

Amongst the Spiral Warriors that piloted the Gizoids, these were the reasons that Lucus and his four childhood friends were known as the _Spiral Knights_.

Their mighty knight-like Gizoids.

Syne's was a bold yellow with dark-green accents and a dark-green cape. It had twin horns flanking its grill-shaped face, a green orb on its belly and its forehead, and held a large golden hammer as large as its own body in one of its bulky hands.

**シン・イエローゼルコヴァ専用カスタムギゾイド  
バイホゥウ  
Syne Yellowzelkova's Exclusive Use Custom Gizoid  
Baihuu**

Undenine's was a dull red with black accents and a bright red cape. Sharp horns emerged from its back and head, and there was an orange orb in its chest and under the visor on its head. An energy whip, currently powered down, was clutched in its right hand.

**ウンデニン・レッドパイン専用カスタムギゾイド  
キンロン  
Undenine Redpine's Exclusive Use Custom Gizoid  
Qyinlone**

Salasine's was black with a blue-green cape, and a purple orb on a chest, another encompassing the entire front half of its face, in addition to two being mounted on its shoulders. It held a staff ending in a large circular mirror.

**サラシン・ブラックナルキッソス専用カスタムギゾイド  
チョークゥエ  
Salasine Blacknarcissus's Exclusive Use Custom Gizoid  
Zheuque**

Gnonine's was a very pale blue-green, and had an off-green cape hanging from each of its prominent epaulets. Its insectoid head bore three dark-blue-green orbs and long horns, in addition to the three other orbs of the same color in a vertical line running down the chest. Each hand carried a hooked sword.

**ノニン・ペールベイリーフ専用カスタムギゾイド  
ズワンウーオ  
Gnonine Pale-Bayleaf's Exclusive Use Custom Gizoid  
Xuanwuo**

And finally, there was Lucus's own Gizoid. It was a deep, dark shade of purple, with an emerald-green orb in the middle of its chest, and forming the front half of its face, between a pair of long silver horns. A black cape hung from either of its shoulders, and a long golden sword was held in its left hand.

**ルクス・ダークオーク専用カスタムギゾイド  
ホゥエンロニックス  
Lucus Darkoak's Exclusive Use Custom Gizoid  
Huenlonix**

The five of them, together, had battled relentlessly against the Anti-Spiral in these mechas, driving the Anti-Spiral's forces off from many worlds desperate for protection. Lucus would draw the enemy out with his power of the Spiral. Salasine would deflect any Anti-Spiral energy blasts with his mirrored staff. Undenine would take the enemy's weapon in hand with his whip. Gnonine would then disarm them with his hooked , finally, Syne's Goldion Hammer, developed by the Xorda, would reduce the enemy to pure photons - particles of light - upon contact.

This is how they worked together as a team.

But each of them could still hold their own against foes in the event that they were ever separated.

Lucus had to admit, he probably had the single greatest edge against the Anti-Spiral on his own. The true secret to the power of Huenlonix, the means by which Spiral life itself had survived as long as it had, was the device which lurked behind the orb on its face, which was incorporated five years ago.

_でっかい顔_

_Lucus blinked at the sight before him. Ceneca-6913 had brought him down to the research center in one of the lower levels of the Burrnyl Sphere. It was dark except for the blinking lights which exposed a sheet covering something. Whatever it was, this something was quite large, as large as a small car._

_"Lucus Darkoak, I present to you..."_

_With one of her hands, she pulled the sheet off._

_"The future of combat mechas!"_

_It was a miniature Gizoid, up to Lucus's shoulder level. It was pale-green, with bright blue eyes. A crest reached for the ceiling, bearing a third eye in the middle of its forehead. Its arms and legs were very short and stumpy._

_Lucus gave it a once-over, running a hand over its body. It was strangely warm, even though the room itself was rather cool. He looked behind its crest. The cockpit was just a leather seat with two grips, one for each hand. A helixometer was set in the middle of the display, directly behind the mini-Gizoid's third eye. On its back was a small turbine._

_"I'm sorry, Ceneca-6913, but how is _this_ the future of combat mechas? We need _bigger_ mechas, not _smaller_."_

_"I understand that. This Gizoid is not suited to direct combat, at least not in its current state. This is a Gizoid that is meant for _combining_ with other Gizoids."_

_"Combining?"_

_"Indeed. This Gizoid prototype here is the meaning of 'greater than the sum of its parts'. This is... the Spiral Power Magnification Conduit Interface. Call it the Core Machine for short."_

_**螺旋力拡大導管界面「コアマシン」  
Spiral Power Magnification Conduit Interface "Core Machine"**_

_Lucus dug deep into his memory. "Spiral Power Magnification Conduit Interface...?"_

_Ceneca-6913 continued, smiling, "You remember Ceneca-6573's proposal to the Teragosans, then. We have all been more impressed than you can imagine for your Miracle Over Greengate. This is the zenith of helixological studies. This boy here..." She patted the Core Machine affectionately. "Is capable of magnifying the Spiral Power of whoever is piloting it. The larger the machine that it is combined onto, the greater the magnification of Spiral Power."_

_Lucus grinned broadly._

_"You're a genius, Ceneca-6913!"_

_He looked down at the helixometer. There was a small metal port in the exact middle of it. He furrowed his brow at it._

_"What's that in the middle there?"_

_"For lack of a better term, that's the ignition port. You activate it with _this_."_

_She produced from a breast pocket a small drill the size of her thumb. It looked to be carved out of pure emerald. Lucus took it. It, too, was warm to the touch._

_Then it began to pulse with a green light that matched Lucus's heartbeat. He gasped._

_Ceneca-6913 smiled again. "It seems that the Core Drill has accepted you as its master."_

_"Core Drill?"_

_"It serves as a liaison for the Spiral Power of the pilot with the Core Machine. To activate the Core Machine, insert the Core Drill into the port in the center of your helixometer, and twist it while saying, 'Spin Start'."_

_"Spin Start," Lucus repeated, twisting the Core Drill in his hands._

_"__Be careful with your Core Drill, Lucus. It was no simple matter to create an object that's perfectly fractal down to point-one Planck length."_

_"Fractal?" Lucus asked._

_"Fractal is a term which indicates a pattern that is self-similar at all levels of magnification," Ceneca-6913 said. She raised her top-right arm, clicking a small remote, and a computer screen lit up with an image of a counter-clockwise spiral. "In other words, a fractal body looks the same no matter how much you would zoom in or out. See how the spiral repeats itself as it gets larger? That is related to the Principle of Spiral Amplification. The Core Drill is supposed to be perfectly fractal, even down to levels beyond quantum physics, or contact with the Core Machine will be impossible. You have no idea how long it took us sisters Bem to craft Cain G specimens into these Core Drills."_

_Lucus started. "Cain G? This is one of the sentient crystals of Cain G?"_

_"Indeed it is."_

_"But I thought that they had declared neutrality in this war."_

_"Actually, for the Sherds of Cain G, this was an incredibly hasty decision... even though it's been four years for us. Some Sherds volunteered to be whittled down to this form, so that they could grow to fit the Core Drill molds that we made."_

_"Sherd_s_...?"_

_"This is not the only Core Machine we're going to develop. At least seven more are lined up for construction. Our next best Gizoid pilots will be lined up to incorporate them into their own Gizoids as well."_

_"'As well'...?" Lucus looked at the Bem scientist with a hopeful smile. "You mean...!"_

_"All that we need to incorporate this into your Huenlonix is your word."_

_Lucus's heart skipped a beat._

_"Really? Awesome!"_

_He clenched the Core Drill in his hand._

_"Will my friends be getting their own Core Machines as well?"_

_At this, Ceneca-6913's smile faltered._

_"I'm terribly sorry, but we only think it fair that the pilots of Core Machines be fairly representative of the races the Anti-Spiral has displaced. We can only hope that they never need to pilot Core Machines. I'm sure you'll understand."_

_Disappointed, Lucus nodded. "I guess it makes sense. I have the greatest Spiral Power of us five, so I'd be the biggest target."_

_Ceneca-6913 lowered her head, closing her eyes for a moment._

_"In the meantime, Lucus," she continued, "Perhaps you would like to name this Core Machine?"_

_"_Name _it?"_

_"It's a part of the Huenlonix, but it should be identifiable on its own."_

_Lucus looked at the green Gizoid mech. He thought for a long moment._

_He thought back to when this all began. When he'd met Merlin._

_"I'll name it... G-Merlin. No. G-Merl."_

_**ジーメル  
G-Merl**_

_Ceneca-6913 smiled brightly. "Seems fitting. Perhaps in time, you'd like to have G-Merl customized to your liking...?"_

_ギゾイド_

Rousing himself from his revery, Lucus looked past the the five Spiral Knights' Gizoids, to the great mass production Meta-Gizoids.

Each the size of a small mountain, they served as transports for the cockpit Gizoids, and as back-up for the Star Gizoids.

There were the generic Great MetaFlares, which had dagger-shaped prows emerging from their abdomens; the evasive Great MetaSeas, which were slim and lithe, capable of swimming through space like it was an ocean creature; the speedy Great MetaWinds, shaped like large flat crossroads in space, capable of tearing through space at high speeds to make guerrilla strikes; and the impregnable Great MetaRocks, each one a hemisphere coated in layer upon layer of molecularly bonded steel, which could withstand any level of bombardment from the Anti-Spiral.

Flanking the Gizoids of Lucus and his four friends, were two other Gizoids equipped with Core Machines. One Gizoid (specially modified for its aquatic pilot) was piloted by a Xorda who had particularly high Spiral Power. It resembled a silvery-blue fish-man. Its spiny arms and legs ended in long hands and feet webbed with yellow flexisteel. Its elongated head ended in a spiny fish-tail spotted at regular intervals. Between its narrow green eyes was a red orb, which served as the base for a singular long horn.

**ゾールダ専用カスタムギゾイド  
ボス・ギルマン  
Xorda's Exclusive Use Custom Gizoid  
Boss Gillman**

The other Core Machine-equipped Gizoid was predominantly silver, and looked more like a giant silver-coated Pink Wisp than anything. Scattered around it were several silver rings. Lucus knew that, when the pilot, a Bem named Ceneca-9001, activated the Core Machine with her Core Drill, the silver rings would rise up and rotate around the Gizoid's central body. They were capable of separating and being morphed into various weapons against the Anti-Spiral.

**セネカ玖〇〇壹専用カスタムギゾイド  
シルバーリンガー  
Ceneca-9001's Exclusive Use Custom Gizoid  
Silver Ringer**

Lucus looked back to Ceneca-6913.

"Thanks. I really needed this."

Ceneca-6913 brought a hand to her chin as she smiled.

"Don't mention it."

_昇進_

Later that same morning, Lucus was seated in the mess hall, which was a lot fuller and more lively during the 'daytime hours'. Organizing the artificial cycles of day and night for the various diurnal and nocturnal species with different sleep cycles was a chore for the construction workers of the Burrnyl Sphere, but a compromise was eventually found. Living arrangements for the races who breathed different gases from each other was difficult, but eventually, it was decided that different sectors would be apportioned to different races. (Those who breathed carbon dioxide and oxygen could safely cohabitate, though.)

Lucus did not consider himself a biology genius, but he did know his fair share about genetics and how DNA splicing worked. He did consider reading up on helixology and its applications in genetics and biology, in the hopes of using Spiral Power to alter everyone's biology so that they would be able to breathe the same air, so that no one would be unable to share the same space because of some simple physiological difference. However, when Ceneca-6913 told him that the level of Spiral Power needed to adjust the genetic code of an entire living being, never mind a race or several races, was simply too unfeasible, Lucus gave up on this flight of fancy.

Of course, Lucus's mind was far from genetics or splicing DNA strands or biology at the moment, and soon would be for a significant amount of time.

He was sharing breakfast rations with his four childhood friends when General Goldyew approached the table in full military uniform. His straw-colored hair was cropped far shorter than it was ten years ago, and he wore an eyepatch over his right eye, which he'd lost three years before along with the right thorn on his head.

"Commander Darkoak," he said gruffly. He'd lost much gentility over the past decade.

Lucus dropped his fork hastily, his eggs splattering all over the table (Salasine looked affronted) and sprang to a salute.

"Yessir?"

"Lieutenant Blacknarcissus."

"Sir?"

"Lieutenant Pale-Bayleaf."

"Yessir."

"Lieutenant Redpine."

"Sir!"

"Lieutenant Yellowzelkova."

"Yes! Sir!"

Each one stood and saluted as their name was called; Salasine tentatively, Gnonine attentively, Undenine eagerly, and Syne boisterously.

General Goldyew beckoned.

"Follow me."

Wondering if this was some sort of discharge from the war because of the loss of Marmolin, Lucus followed regardless, giving his friends a reassuring smile as they were all led away in silence.

In minutes, they were in Goldyew's office, decorated with holographic pictures of various successful battles against the Anti-Spiral. The walls flanking the door were made from glass; behind the one on the left of Goldyew's steel desk was a chamber for meetings he would have with races who breathed something other than carbon dioxide or oxygen; behind the glass wall on the right of the desk was water, for meetings with Xorda (and yellow drill-shaped Wisps, who loved water). Behind Goldyew's desk was a viewport looking into outer space, the Tree of Life Nebula gleaming in the farthest left corner. Goldyew took a seat behind his desk, folding his hands on it.

"I'd wager that you five boys are wondering why I brought you all here so early in the day," he said sternly.

The five of them nodded slowly.

"It's because," he began, "I am about to relieve you five of your present positions."

Before he knew what he was doing, Lucus slammed a fist on the table, his Core Drill dangling over Goldyew's desk name plate.

"You can't do this, sir! Marmolin was a major loss, sure, but that's surely not a reason to—"

"Let me finish, _Commander_," Goldyew barked, and Lucus held his tongue. After a few moments, he continued, "I am to relieve you boys of your present positions immediately..." He glanced out the window over his left shoulder. "And will be transferred immediately..."

A star winked in the distance, and Goldyew smiled.

"To the flagship of the Spiral Warriors."

The star that winked flashed brilliantly for a moment, and it swelled until it encompassed the entire middle quarter of Goldyew's window. The light faded, revealing...

The air was sucked out of the room by the gasps that Lucus, Gnonine, Salasine, Syne and Undenine let out.

The battleship was a lustrous gold. It had the shape of a hunched back, a pair of purple orbs over a pair of purple eye-looking energy cannons, which marked either side of a prow which made an acute angle to point backwards over the battleship. Heavy weapons batteries decorated its underside and the claw-like thrusters on its sides. A stalk brimming with engines protruded from its underbelly, and a pair of turbines flanked an extended pointed tail.

"Behold, the newly commissioned flagship of the Spiral Armada!" Goldyew said brightly, gesturing out the window. "Built from the shell of one of the black dragons that made up the Anti-Spiral's first wave of attacks. With a crew of ten million strong, armed with nine primary heavy weapons batteries, eight secondary ion cannon batteries, two super-powerful energy cannons, and a hundred-thousand Star Gizoids ready for battle! Scores of Star Huenlonixes for your use as well!"

He gave Lucus and his friends a broad smirk.

"And I'm making you her captain, Lucus Darkoak! Your friends here will be her commanders!"

Lucus and his friends stood shellshocked. General Goldyew was entrusting them with the command of the flagship of their rebellion against the Anti-Spiral...?

Goldyew must have noticed their trepidation, because his expression sobered, and he said in a low voice, "You boys have come a long way since I first saw you on the bridge of a busted-up old evac-transport, freshly orphaned saplings scared of stepping into a world that was too big for you." He spread his arms. "And now look at you, boys. You've sure sprouted into tough, sturdy boles of men. You've looked Hell in the eye, and you spat in it."

Lucus smiled at the man who was practically a second father to him.

"Thank you, sir," he said, thumping a fist against his chest. "We won't let you down!"

"So, what'll you be calling her?" Crysantem asked, gesturing out the window again.

"Well," Gnonine began, "if we spat Hell in the eye..."

Gnonine gave a knowing look and half-smirk Lucus's way.

"She's the Hellship!"

**超時空要塞  
ヘルシップ  
Super Dimensional Fortress  
Hellship**

The Hellship was reflected in Lucus's eyes. He was the captain of the flagship of all Spiral life. He, Spiral Knight Lucus Darkoak, was going to head the charge against the Anti-Spiral.

"When do we set sail, General?"

Crysantem instantly darkened.

"Immediately. Super Spiral scans indicate that the Anti-Spiral fleet is sweeping through the Xenes Sector. Their flagship, Excalibur, is terrorizing planets in the area. We've got to get in there and drive them out before they begin to destroy planets in that sector."

"But why are planets not being destroyed in that sector _right now_?" Salasine asked.

"No idea, but it sounds like the Anti-Spiral have recruited your archnemesis, Lucus," Crysantem said, looking at Lucus from under the brim of his hat.

Lucus's heart stopped for a moment. _Black Doom...?_

_真っ黒な命運の前触れ_

_Lucus was on cloud nine. Piloting Huenlonix was always something of a chore when he piloted it before, and producing Spiral Power to deal out attacks or to heal damage to his Gizoid was exhausting._

_But now he had G-Merl incorporated into it for the first time in this practice run._

_The most complex of space maneuvers seemed a breeze, and his attacks were far simpler to bring out. Though he had a prodigious amount of Spiral Power, bringing out too much Spiral Power at once was exhausting._

_That was then, though._

_Now, he could pull out an Auger Storm without batting an eyelid._

_Perhaps even a Mega Auger would be a cinch._

_Suddenly, a screen reading 'CENECA-6913 - SOUND ONLY' appeared in Lucus's eye, and Ceneca-6913's voice broke in. She sounded panicked._

_"Lucus, LOOK OUT!"_

_Lucus barely had time to dodge the crescent of fire that came at him._

_Spinning the Huenlonix around, Lucus turned to face his sudden attacker, to drive out the perpetrator who had entered the Burrnyl Sphere's space._

_It was a monstrous figure the size of Syne's Baihuu. Somehow, it was breathing just fine in the empty vacuum of space. Its skin was a black-brown, with two blood-colored horns pointing to its left and right. Its three fiery eyes gleamed with malice. It wore a brown robe with a golden collar, two necklaces (one decorated with gems, the other bearing a silver star-shaped ornament), pads over its shoulders, and golden chains that bore dangerous-looking silver spiked instruments. It had no visible legs.  
"Who are you?" Lucus asked his attacker._

_The monstrous figure brought up both of its arms. Its hands had two fingers and a thumb on each._

**I AM YOUR SALVATION THROUGH DESTRUCTION**_, came a booming voice from the abomination. _**I AM THE HARBINGER OF YOUR BLACK DOOM.**

_Huenlonix grabbed its golden sword from its back._

_"Not if I have anything to say about it!" Lucus bellowed._

**YOU FOOL**_, the monster said, meteors that glowed with hellfire appearing in its hands. _**THERE IS NO VICTORY TO BE FOUND AGAINST ME. I SHALL BE THE MOST PERFECT LIFE FORM IN THE UNIVERSE. I SHALL HAVE THE GREATEST SPIRAL POWER IN EXISTENCE. YOU ARE BUT A GNAT, A PEST TO ME.**

_Lucus smirked._

_"Who the hell do you think I am?"_

_And he charged. His foe followed suite._

_誰かが誰かを恨んでる_

"He ended up retreating," Lucus said, "But it was a narrow victory."

"What are you talking about, Lucus?" Undenine asked indignantly. "He didn't even touch you once!"

"However it went down that day, he's been terrorizing people across the galaxy for years. And now he works for the Anti-Spiral? This is _wonderful_."

"All the more reason to mobilize the Hellship and the Spiral Warriors, and put this rivalry to rest," Crysantem said. "I shall accompany you and help to direct the battle. The Hellship has already produced eleven more Core Machines, with a twelfth well on the way to completion. New pilots who have showed promising test results have been assigned, and will be ready to be dispatched in live combat when we arrive in Xenes. With any luck, this will be the end of the Anti-Spiral, and Spiral life will be allowed to flourish once more!"

He saluted, and Lucus and his friends followed suite.

_今は準備が必要なんだよ！！_

—_IN THE NAME OF THE XORDA, THE ANTI-SPIRAL WILL BE __**EX-TER-MIN-ATED**__!—_ the Xorda said, twisting its Core Drill into the slot in the helixometer in the water-proofed cockpit of its Boss Gillman mecha. Its green eyes flashed as it stood erect, its spindly fingers flexing eagerly.

"Yes, they shall, my Xorda comrade," said Ceneca-9001, turning her Core Drill into the slot at the center of her helixometer. The helixometer filled to max capacity in an instant. Outside, the half-dozen rings that lay scattered around the Silver Ringer sprang into the air and began to spin around the now-hovering Gizoid. "And in the names of the Bem, and the Seedrians, and all other races whom the Anti-Spiral so foolishly swept aside!"

In the cockpits of Baihuu, Qyinlone, Zheuque, and Xuanwuo, controls were gripped tightly in the fists of Syne, Undenine, Salasine, and Gnonine, all four decked out in their fresh new Flagship Commander outfits.

"Goldion Hammer, ready to _light up the skies_!"

"We'll _whip_ some sense into the Anti-Spiral this time!"

"We shall make them _reflect_ upon their actions!"

"...We were not making puns, Salasine, but this battle _will_ be ours!"

Lucus, wearing a shiny new Flagship Captain uniform, placed a hand upon the green orb that made up Huenlonix's face, and his eyes glowed green. The orb glowed green as well. When the glow passed from Lucus's eyes, the orb had disappeared, allowing Lucus access to G-Merl.

In the five years since he had had G-Merl installed, Lucus had eschewed the green color scheme, painting the bulk of G-Merl black, with silver plating over its mouth and its ears (when its arms, now black with yellow trim, were retracted) and red trim around its eyes. Its crest had become a plume of three crests, resembling a yellow crown now.

Lucus turned the Core Drill in the helixometer, and crossed his arms.

He did not need to touch G-Merl's controls anymore to control Huenlonix.

A small computer screen reading 'GENERAL GOLDYEW - SOUND ONLY' appeared in Lucus's eye.

"Captain Darkoak, I expect to see you on the bridge at least for the beginning of this operation."

Lucus nodded.

"Understood, sir."

Huenlonix and a legion of Gizoids took flight into the empty space beneath the spreading branches of the Tree of Life Nebula. In the minutes between launch from the Burrnyl Sphere and docking with the Hellship, it dawned rapidly upon the Spiral Warriors just how large the flagship of the armada was. It was well over two-thousand miles from stem to stern, and over one-thousand across. It could have easily passed for a natural planetary satellite in size. Accompanying the Hellship were thousands of Spiral Warrior battleships, none of which even came close to the bulk of the flagship. Hundreds of Cyclone-class Star Meta-Gizoid cruisers, Seedrian-built, and painted in the colors of the Greengate evac-transports of a decade ago, would serve a role as blockade runners in the event of a need for guerrilla warfare. Xorda saucers, coated in bronze metal, and dotted with an obscene number of weapons batteries, would play a role as offensive and defensive walls to prevent too many Anti-Spiral mechas from breaking the main line. The Meta-Gizoids would serve as back-up, and some were slave-drived to computers to serve explicitly as cannon fodder.

Disembarking from their Gizoids in the unfathomably massive hangar of the Hellship, Lucus and the other Gizoid pilots (save the Xorda) looked up in awe at the sheer scale of the Star Gizoids. Seeing the schematics and reading about them was one thing, but being there in person, looking up at mechas that would have stood at least as tall as Plasati Castle, was almost overwhelming.

**汎用螺旋決戦兵器・反アンチスパイラル型メカ  
スターギゾイド  
The ultimate all-purpose Spiral decisive battle weapon, the anti-Anti-Spiral-type mecha  
Star Gizoid**

_We can win this_, Lucus thought. _I know it._

Stepping into an open-air elevator, Lucus pushed a button that indicated the bridge.

Suddenly, he was enveloped in green light, and an instant later, he was standing in a large room with rows of computers, numerous technicians and mechanics and officers of all different species typing away at their consoles. Wisps of all colors were flitting about. He gave a start.

"_What the—?_"

"You've handled the teleporter quite well," said a Seedrian standing at the head of the bridge. It was General Crysantem Goldyew. Yacker was floating at his shoulder; he now wore a collar with a darkened light on it. "I myself nearly vomited."

Yacker began to chitter in Wispish, and the light on his collar lit up red. An electronic voice said, _"It's true. He did."_

Lucus sprang to a salute as Gnonine and Undenine appeared at his sides in flashes of green light. "General!" Lucus heard retching from Gnonine's direction.

Crysantem smiled, shaking his head with closed eyes. "At ease, Lucus. You outrank me here. You're the _Captain_ of the Hellship."

And he saluted Lucus.

Lucus smiled, lowering his hand. Salasine and Syne appeared behind him.

"At ease, General," he said.

Crysantem lowered his hand.

"The teleporters are there because of how _big _the Hellship is. It would take too long to get around, otherwise."

Lucus nodded.

"Understood."

He then turned to the coordinations officer, a Thorndrigan.

"How goes the loading of the Gizoid army?"

"Nearly complete, sir," he said, his fingers flying across the screen. "They should all be aboard in 200 seconds."

Lucus smiled as Ceneca-9001 appeared in the bridge. "Very good. We'll need all the fighters we can get in this battle."

"And we're here," she said. She placed a hand on his shoulder. "We're all behind you, Captain."

"Captain!" said Gnonine, Salasine, Undenine, and Syne, springing to salutes.

Lucus raised a hand humbly.

"You don't have to salute me, guys. I'm just a simple Thorndrigan fighting to keep people alive."

His friends lowered their hands, Undenine chuckling nervously.

He turned to face the navigations officer, a Bem.

"Begin to set the Perceptual Teleportation coordinates for the Xenes Sector. I want us to jump into hyperspace as soon as the last Gizoids are onboard."

"Yessir!" said the navigations officer, keying in the necessary coordinates at her station.

Lucus turned to the communications officer, a Petali.

"Broadcast the Perceptual Teleportation coordinates to every ship in the fleet. And open a comm channel so that they can warp on my mark."

"Right away, sir!"

Lucus turned to face the bridge in general.

"Everyone!"

They all turned at attention.

"I accept this post with humility, under the presumption that I will resign this post when my services are no longer required. When the Anti-Spiral's defeat is assured, I will leave all this behind. But until then, I will have absolute dominance on the battlefield. My foes will _taste_ the sorrow and pain that have consumed us for a decade. I will forgo the Star Huenlonixes that are in the hangar bay; I want to make the Anti-Spiral feel my rawest rage at the hands of my Huenlonix alone."

Gnonine turned to face Lucus.

"As will I."

Salasine flipped his hair as he faced Lucus.

"And I."

Undenine saluted.

"Aye!"

Syne put a fist in the air.

"_Aye!_"

Lucus smiled. His friends... By his side to the bitter end...

He looked at the coordinations officer, smiling sheepishly.

"Was that 200 seconds?"

The coordinations officer counted down with his fingers.

Three.

Two.

One.

"All Gizoids aboard."

'All systems green!' said the mechanic, an Avalonian.

"Very well!" said Lucus, the open comm channel opening on the main screen and on all screens on the bridge, showing as many bridges of the fleet as possible.

"Every Captain of the fleet, this is Lucus Darkoak, Spiral Knight and Captain of the Hellship. You should have received the Perceptual Teleportation coordinates that will warp us in an instant to the Xenes Sector, and battle with the Anti-Spiral. Prepare to warp on my mark.

"Okay...

"One..."

Lucus began to sweat.

"Two..."

Lucus hesitated; was this a good idea? The Anti-Spiral had to know they were coming. The Spiral Warriors could very well be warping right into a trap. If it was a trap, and the Spiral Warriors were crippled, then it would all be Lucus's fault.

This was Lucus's real battle.

Turn back in definite shame, or move forward onto uncertain trails?

Lucus opened his mouth.

He made his decision.

"THREE!"

_罠_

The Xenes Sector was an area of the Silver Stream Galaxy that was less well explored than much of the rest of the galaxy. It was predominantly filled with planets of Spiral races whose technology had not yet unlocked the true power of helixology, and thusly, these races had mostly had unmanned probes sending vague reports back about the surrounding cubic light-year of space around their system.

One in particular was built with no particular flair or idea of elegance. Its profile was purely functional. It bore a simple white radar dish, a boxy body, and antennae of varying lengths branching out. Its creators called in _Voyager 1_, and it was about eleven-billion miles away from Earth.

In a flash of light, the Hellship and its fleet appeared behind the primitive satellite, unaware that this sudden appearance would disrupt its signals to its distant homeworld, causing a period of mourning in the scientific community.

But any thoughts that might have been about such simple concerns in the Spiral Warriors' fleet were quickly dispelled when a torrent of energy blasts of blue and purple descended upon them.

A dozen Cyclone ships were felled before they could raise their Super Spiral shields. The Gizoids stationed aboard flew out as quickly as they could, evading the Anti-Spiral's blasts as best they could.

The Hellship quaked. The Super Spiral shield was up, but the blasts were so intense.

"It's a trap!" cried the navigations officer. "The Anti-Spiral were waiting for us!"

Lucus cursed to himself. It _was _a trap!

Well, time to get everyone out of the fire.

"And I'll meet them head-on!" he snarled, running to the teleporter. "I leave the bridge in your hands, General Goldyew!"

Crysantem saluted. "You can count on me, Captain!"

But Lucus and the Gizoid pilots on the bridge had already warped down to the hangar.

_決戦_

Lucus leapt up to the orb of Huenlonix's face, leaping through it without breaking it with Spiral Power, and thrust his Core Drill into the heart of his helixometer. Twisting it, he took the controls...

And caught sight of a whirling vortex of purple flame in the middle of the hangar. A dark shape was emerging from it.

Huenlonix bucked, and suddenly Lucus could not move its arms.

He looked down to the helixometer. All green.

He looked up...

Into three fiery eyes full of hate.

_**LONG TIME NO SEE, DARKOAK**_, snarled Black Doom.

**つづく  
To be continued...**


	8. May You All Burn! 4

_(This was originally the last half of the last chapter, but I decided to split it in half when it proved to be so long.)_

**天元突破  
フリーダムエメル  
〜パラレルワークス〜**

**Tengen Toppa  
Freedom Emerl  
~Parallel Works~**

**by**

**アムラス・フェラグンド  
Amras Felagund**

**May You All Burn!**

* * *

Down on the floor of the hangar, Gnonine and Salasine had not yet reached their Gizoids, Syne was just at Baihuu's waist, and Undenine was at Qyinlone's feet. Ceneca-9001 was only just at her Silver Ringer. This sudden appearance of a ball of purple fire had been a surprise on its own, but then a dark demon had emerged from it and grappled Huenlonix's arms before Lucus could even move.

Almost all pilots had stepped out of their Gizoids before the warp to get a moment to breathe before the battle, so the surprise of Black Doom's appearance had stunned them into inaction.

It would have been the end of Lucus Darkoak if no Gizoids but his had a pilot in them.

Boss Gillman slashed at Black Doom's back, forcing him to release his grip on the Spiral Knight's Gizoid.

Lucus took this time to leap into the air, Huenlonix hovering tentatively by the purple vortex of flames, sword poised for a potential strike.

—_ARE YOU AN ALLY OF THE ANTI-SPIRAL?—_ the Xorda pilot demanded in its mechanical screech.

Black Doom faced Boss Gillman balefully, unaware of the Gizoid pilots boarding their mechas.

_**I AM NO SUBORDINATE OF THE ANTI-SPIRAL**_, he boomed. _**I AM USING THEIR RESOURCES TO ANNIHILATE THOSE WHO WOULD CHALLENGE MY SUPERIORITY. AND WHEN THE TIME IS RIGHT, I SHALL REMOVE THEM FROM THE UNIVERSE. ONLY ONE CAN RULE THE UNIVERSE. ONLY I AM WORTHY OF SUCH HONOR.**_

—_YOU ARE AN ALLY OF THE ANTI-SPIRAL?—_

_**IF YOU WILL QUIET YOUR INFERNAL SCREECHING, I WILL TELL YOU: YES.**_

Boss Gillman's eyes flashed, and the spots along the elongated fish-tail coming from the back of its head glowed green... producing silver drills, which extended and pointed at the Anti-Spiral.

—_**EX-TER-MIN-ATE!**__—_ the Xorda screeched, Boss Gillman rushing at Black Doom. _—__**EX-TER-MIN-ATE!**__—_

Black Doom grabbed it by one of its extended arms and threw it to the floor, the drills dissipating in an instant into green photons.

_**YOU FOOL**_, Black Doom snarled. _**YOU CANNOT CHALLENGE ME.**_

"But _I'll _challenge you!"

Black Doom looked up, and caught Huenlonix's blade before it could pierce his middle eye.

"Have you no shame?" Lucus asked furiously. "Siding with the Anti-Spirals... Are you _insane_?"

_**SMALL MINDS HAVE ALWAYS BELITTLED GREAT AMBITIONS**_, Black Doom hissed. _**I AM NOT SIDING WITH THE ANTI-SPIRALS. I AM MAKING USE OF THEIR CAPABILITIES, TO LESSEN THE MASSES WHO WOULD THREATEN ME.**_

"_Coward!_" Lucus forced his sword further down, his teeth grit in rage. "You think you can defeat them? You can't even defeat _me_!"

_**WE'LL SEE ABOUT THAT!**_ growled Black Doom, hurling himself backwards, forcing the Huenlonix off balance and falling behind the demonic invader.

"_LUCUS!_" shouted Gnonine, his Xuanwuo moving towards the fallen Huenlonix. The other three Spiral Knights' Gizoids were behind him.

"Don't help me! Lead the Star Gizoid forces into the battle! _I'll_ handle this abomination... alone!"

Lucus could tell his friends were hesitating, but when the Hellship shook from some enemy attack unknown, they merely saluted before blasting off towards the opening hangar bay doors.

Now, it was just Lucus and Black Doom.

—_I SHALL ASSIST YOU IN ERADICATING THIS _INFERIOR_ INVADER!—_ snarled Boss Gillman, clenching his claws.

"You can assist me..." Lucus said.

Huenlonix grabbed one of Boss Gillman's arms...

"BY GETTING THE _FUCK_ OUT _THERE_!"

And hurled the Xorda Gizoid with all of Lucus's considerable Spiral Power-assisted strength out after the Gizoids and Star Gizoids.

_**HOW NOBLE**_, Black Doom mused. _**BUT THE RESULT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE SAME. YOU HAVE ONLY DELAYED THEIR DEATHS BY MINUTES.**_

"What makes you think you'll kill them?" Lucus cracked Huenlonix's knuckles. "You have to get through _me_!"

_**I DO NOT HAVE TO**_, Black Doom said, pointing at the swirling vortex of purple flame. _**LOOK THERE.**_

Lucus did.

Scores of strange creatures were pouring from it. They were a bright purple and had horns, three tentacles, and wide gaping mouths that took up their entire faces. They had no eyes.

Lucus's stomach lurched.

These were _Wisps_.

"Wh... What did you _do _to them?"

_**I AM MERELY COMMANDING THEM**_, Black Doom said, brushing his hand slowly through the air. _**THESE WISPS HAVE HAD THEIR INNER SPIRAL INVERTED BY THE ANTI-SPIRAL. IT HAS MADE A REMARKABLE CHANGE. THESE FRENZIED BEASTS WILL NOW DEVOUR YOUR FLAGSHIP FROM THE INSIDE-OUT, AND YOUR FEEBLE INSURRECTION WILL WATCH IN DESPAIR AS THEIR WEAKNESS IS MADE APPARENT.**_

"You _bastard_!" Lucus choked. Had they been beaten?

* * *

"Our Super Spiral shield is failing in various sectors! Now activating bulkheads across the board!"

"General Goldyew, Meta-Gizoid forces are down to 42%!"

"Hold in there, people!" cried Crysantem, keeping his eyes on the helixometer displayed on the main screen. The shapes of the Excalibur and various Anti-Spiral dragon battleships could be seen in the distance, raining their energy attacks down on the Spiral Warriors. "Don't let fear overtake you! If we fear for our victory, we'll have already lost!"

The radar officer, a Teragosan, turned in her seat and said, "General, sensors are picking up hundreds of anomalous readings across the battlefield! They're..." She looked back to the screen, gulping. "They're _devouring the Gizoids_!"

Crysantem's eyes widened.

"What...?"

A violet shape flew by the window. Its head was shaped like a spiral galaxy, and its grinning mouth full of fangs almost split its head in half. It had three tentacles. It opened its mouth, and a passing satellite of neither Spiral not Anti-Spiral make was drawn in despite being much larger than the creature, crumbling to pieces as it was consumed. Some sort of golden disc was briefly visible inside before it was all drawn into the maw.

Yacker recoiled in horror.

_"Oh, Mother Wisp! Of all horrors the Anti-Spiral have perpetrated...!"_

The engineer, a Marmolinian, in the hangar appeared on the main monitor.

"_General!_ We have a situation down here in the hangar! It's _Black Doom_, and he's—"

Her message was cut off by her own bloodcurdling scream as a purple tentacled creature with a mouth for a head bit off her arm. Her head was the next to go. The corrupted Wisp then lunged at the camera with a bloody snarl. The screen went blank.

Yacker bolted towards the teleporters.

"Lieutenant Commander Yacker!" cried Crysantem, reaching out futilely.

But Yacker was already gone to the hangar.

_黒穴_

Chaos.

The Cyclone-class cruisers, built for speed and not for defense, had to move quickly in order to avoid the more damaging blasts from the Anti-Spiral's energy blasts. The Xorda saucers, built specifically to get in close to the enemy and deal deadly damage at point-blank range, had advanced upon the Anti-Spiral's Drayk battleships, in spite of the heavy losses. The Meta-Gizoids of all types - Flare, Sea, Wind, and Rock - were deployed in Compass Formation such that they could combine into singular units, covering each type's weaknesses and bolstering their strengths.

The Star Gizoids, armed to the teeth and numbering in the tens of thousands, along with the Core Machine Gizoids and four of the five Spiral Knights, were engaged in direct combat with the Anti-Spiral's rank-and-file mechas.

The Anti-Spiral rank-and-file had definitely taken a turn for the bizarre; spiders with translucent red bellies and knight armor along their heads and spear-like legs; mechanical fish with extended legs and knight's helmets; and skeletal knights with screaming skull-faces as they swung their claymores and polearms at any Gizoid that came too close, leaking blue smoke from the joints in their armor.

—_**EX-TER-MIN-ATE!**__—_ Boss Gillman was screeching as it hacked and slashed at the surrounding Anti-Spiral mechas, its capabilities with a Core Machine seemingly forgotten, although it did an impressive amount of damage on its own to the Star Gizoid-sized spider and fish mechas. _—__**EX-TER-MIN-ATE!**__—_

"I hear you, jelly-brain!" Syne bellowed as his Baihuu swung its Goldion Hammer about this way and that, the Anti-Spiral mechas that it struck being reduced to photons in instants when the hammer came down. "Maybe you could _ex-ter-min-ate_ more _quietly_?"

"No infighting!" Gnonine growled, Xuanwuo depriving a Skullknight of its scimitar with the hooked blades of his dual swords. "We're swamped enough as it is!" Hooking his swords together, Gnonine then bisected the Skullknight with a wide swipe.

"Wise words in the middle of a bloodbath!" Ceneca-9001 shouted, the rings of her Silver Ringer spreading out, producing spiraling strings of light that coalesced to form a half-dozen silvery drills that rocketed out and pierced several Kish, Arasen, and Skullknights.

"Really, roughhousing is so unbecoming!" Salasine snarled, using Zheuque's mirrored staff to deflect the Anti-Spiral energy blasts back at the attackers.

"We gotta do what we gotta do, _Sally_!" Undenine snapped, snapping Qyinlone's energy whip about, snatching Skullknight weapons and ripping out Arasen's legs, leaving them to drift in space.

Gnonine glanced at the Skullknight's body that he had just sliced in two, and started.

He had never thought of what the Anti-Spiral would look like before. His need to win had always overridden any interest in what his foe's true form was.

From what he saw in the Skullknight, it would still be a mystery.

_Unmanned mechas?_ he thought. _Have we merely been fighting drones all this time? Who controls the Anti-Spiral war machine?_

At that moment, a violet creature with a spiral galaxy-shaped head and three tentacles drifted by.

"What the...?" Syne said.

The creature opened its mouth impossibly wide, and the debris of the battlefield began to be drawn in, vanishing into its gullet despite being so much larger than the creature or its mouth were.

Then it turned its mouth towards the Boss Gillman, and the Gizoid started being pulled into the void.

—_NO! THE XORDA... MUST... SURVIVE! THE XORDA... MUST... __**EX-TER-MIN-ATE!**__—_ it screeched, reaching our desperately. Its legs were stretching out far too thin...

"NO!" Ceneca-9001 screamed, a ring twisting around itself before tightening around one of Boss Gillman's wrists. The back of Boss Gillman's head crumbled apart, exposing the pale-green of the Xorda's Core Machine.

—_NO!—_ the Xorda shrieked in terror, its electronic voice breaking down. _—NO! NO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooo oooooooo...—_

In its panic, the Xorda must have accidentally hit the open-canopy button, because it burst open, the water the Xorda breathed crystallizing in an instant before the iced Xorda was drawn into the Void Wisp's maw.

"_NO!_" Ceneca-9001 sobbed.

They had lost a Core Machine pilot.

At that moment, a shout of _UNLIMITED COLORS! _resonated from the Hellship, and the Void Wisp began to glow. All the Void Wisps in the battlefield began to glow. When the glow faded, they were returned to their original form.

The five Gizoids present looked back and forth at each other, wondering what had just happened.

_アンリミテッド・カラーズ_

_**YOUR FLEET WILL NOT SURVIVE**_, Black Doom hissed as the Frenzy Wisps gnawed away at the gantries and equipment scattered around the hangar. _**THE NEGA-WISPS DEVELOPED BY THE ANTI-SPIRAL WILL DEVOUR YOUR GIZOIDS, AND I SHALL BE THE UNIVERSE'S SUPREME BEING.**_

Lucus drew up Huenlonix's sword.

"Not on my watch...!"

At that moment, the teleporter flashed, and Yacker burst into the room. The Wisp leader was trailing some peculiar blue smoke.

_"My people!"_ he chittered. _"Return to your senses! You are not too far gone!"_

The curling appendage atop Yacker's head began to glow blue, and the frenzied Nega-Wisps stopped in their tracks, glowing white.

_**WHAT? **_Black Doom breathed, stunned. _**WHAT ARE YOU DOING, WISP? **_**STOP**_**!**_

But it was too late. When the white light faded, the Wisps had returned to what they were before. White three-tentacled Wisps, yellow drill-shaped Wisps, green hovering Wisps, and pink spiky Wisps with one eye; cyan angular Wisps and orange rocket-shaped Wisps with two eyes; and blue cube-shaped Wisps and red flame-shaped Wisps with three eyes.

_**NO...**_ Black Doom hissed, reaching menacingly for Yacker. _**YOU SHALL PAY FOR THAT!**_

The Wisps descended on Black Doom, smothering him, slapping him with their tentacles, forcing him to the ground. Yacker was attempting to poke Black Doom in the eyes.

_**YOU VERMIN... THAT... IS... **_**ENOUGH**_**!**_

There was a flash of blood-red fire, and all that was left of the Wisps that were striking Black Doom were burned bits of flesh. Yacker, two of his tentacles burnt off, was sent flying against the wall, where he struck his head violently.

The few surviving Wisps glanced around hesitatingly.

Then they glared at Black Doom, who laughed mockingly.

_**YOU SIMPLE LITTLE FOOLS... THINKING YOU CAN DEFEAT **_**ME**_**?**_

"We don't _think_ we can defeat you," Lucus snarled. "We _know_ we can defeat you!"

_**HOW TRITE. WHAT MAKES YOU SO CERTAIN?**_

Lucus smirked.

"Nothing, really. We just know."

Black Doom growled in burgeoning fury.

_"Lu–cus."_

Yacker, his eye narrow from pain, unsteadily floated up from his location on the ground. Lucus, Black Doom and the Wisps' eyes were centered on the wounded leader of the Wisps as he drifted towards Huenlonix. He placed his single remaining tentacle against the green orb of its face.

_"Luc–us. Ta–ke my powe–r."_

Lucus shook his head, even though Yacker probably could not see him. "No... I can't. That's your power. I can't take it. You'll die."

_"That ca–n't be stopp–ed now. You mus–t defeat the An–ti-Spir–al. Do it for... S–piral l–ife."_

Yacker began to glow, his eye closing.

_"We... wil–l do thi–s togeth–er..."_

Yacker's light flowed into G-Merl as an orb of photons, hovering before Lucus's face. He could swear he heard a voice in his mind telling him, _Take it._

And he did.

He did not reach up to take it, but he accepted it into him, his head bowed, his eyes closed.

Instantly, Lucus felt a boost in his already obscenely great Spiral Power. He felt that he could do anything.

No.

Not anything.

One thing.

Defeat the Anti-Spiral, and all their ilk.

Starting with...

Lucus opened his eyes, which glowed white.

_"Yacker, let's do this together!"_

His helixometer maxed out from white to green.

_**WHAT IS THIS?**_ Black Doom snarled, as Huenlonix erupted in white flames. He raised his hands, preparing to summon a purple crescent of energy.

Huenlonix bellowed, _"DRILL! ROCKET!"_

Two yellow Wisps nodded to two orange Wisps, who propped them up and blasted at Black Doom's exposed hands, piercing them and drawing green blood. Black Doom growled in pain as the rocketing Wisps carried him to the far wall, pinning him to it. The drill Wisps had pierced his hands all the way through.

Huenlonix raised its left hand to the ceiling.

_"UNLIMITED COLORS!"_ Lucas shouted to the heavens, a disc of light appearing around Huenlonix's left wrist.

Inside G-Merl, the helixometer turned to rainbow colors. The glass of the helixometer shattered outwards (the glass burning to ash at the light from Lucus's eyes), a helix of rainbow light showering Lucus.

"LASER!"

A cyan Wisp flew up to fly around this disc of light in a clockwise motion. A beam of cyan light spiraled upwards to a point some six Huenlonix heights off the hangar floor.

"DRILL!"

A yellow Wisp joined the cyan Wisp, just ahead of the latter. A beam of yellow light spiraled up as well.

"SPIKES!"

A pink Wisp jumped ahead of the yellow Wisp, sending a pink beam of light up as well.

"ROCKET!"

An orange Wisp flew up to lead the pink Wisp, an orange beam of light joining the other three.

"CUBE!"

A blue Wisp shot to the head of the pack, a beam of blue light joining the others.

"HOVER!"

A green Wisp shot up to lead the blue Wisp, sending up a green beam of spiraling light.

"BURST!"

A red Wisp shot to the point between the green and cyan Wisps, sending out a beam of red spiraling light to the tip that now glowed white.

The space between the colored beams of light glowed white.

"FINAL..."

The white glow shattered away, revealing a silver drill with seven grooves down it, five times larger than Huenlonix itself.

_"PRISM..."_

The rainbow-glowing drill pointed at Black Doom, the Wisps moving to the head of the drill.

_**"AUGER!"**_

The Final Prism Auger began to spin rapidly, spewing a torrent of rainbow Spiral Energy behind Huenlonix, Lucus launching the Gizoid and its Unlimited Colors finishing move at Black Doom...

When a meteor burst from a vortex of purple flames at the floor just below Black Doom, smashing against the Final Prism Auger and directing its path upwards.

Not quite enough.

Although Black Doom had tilted his head backwards, the Final Prism Auger had tore away his cloak and ground up much of the flesh that covered his chest.

Huenlonix and the Wisps stopped several hundred meters from the ceiling, the Final Prism Auger dissolving into rainbow particles of light. Lucus looked down at Black Doom, still pinned to the wall by vengeful Wisps. He descended to Black Doom's level, switching his sword back to Huenlonix's left hand.

Placing Huenlonix's right hand on Black Doom's ribcage, Lucus closed his eyes.

He tried to feel for the flow of Spiral Power in Black Doom.

He felt for a few seconds...

Then his eyes shot open.

He addressed Black Doom, "You sealed off your Spiral Power, haven't you?"

Black Doom coughed, _**IT WAS FALSE FEALTY TO THE ANTI-SPIRAL. AS WAS MY DESTRUCTION OF MY HOMEWORLD. **_

At this, Lucus froze. Black Doom had destroyed his own homeworld? _His own kind?_

_**MY RACE HAD GROWN STAGNANT - **_**LAZY**_** - WITH THE PASSAGE OF TIME**_, Black Doom continued. _**IT WAS AN EASY DECISION TO DESTROY THEM. AS FOR MY SPIRAL POWER, IT WILL BE SIMPLE TO RECONNECT THE PATHWAYS ONCE I'VE DEFEATED THE ANTI-SPIRAL. AND THEN, THERE WILL BE **_**NO ONE**_** TO STAND IN MY WAY WHEN CONQUER THE UNIVERSE!**_

"Not if I do... _this!_" shouted Lucus, stabbing his golden sword into Black Doom's chest, directly into one of his hearts.

Black Doom let out a long, unearthly shriek.

"Sorry," Lucus said hotly. "Guess that was important."

Huenlonix grabbed the monster's head.

"How does _that _feel?" he shouted hoarsely, slamming Black Doom's head against the wall. Again. And again. And again. "Does that feel _good_? Does it? _Does it? DOES IT?_"

After several moments, becoming increasingly aware of the spreading spot of Black Doom's green blood on the wall, Lucus stopped. He stepped away, Huenlonix shaking just like its pilot.

Black Doom's evil eyes no longer carried a burning hatred.

They simply stared emptily at nothing.

The yellow drill Wisps in Black Doom's hand sheepishly drew themselves out. Black Doom's body slid down, leaving a trail of green blood along the wall.

"I won't kill you," said Huenlonix. "I'll let you live exactly like this... so that you can see exactly what it's like to live with such a gaping hole in your heart."

And he left the hangar, at long last, the Wisps following him.

_虹のドリル_

Even without the Nega-Wisps, the battle still would have been going badly for the Spiral Warriors. The Anti-Spiral's sudden attack had made it difficult for them to organize any successful retaliatory strike. While the Hellship had planet-pulverizing weapons batteries and a pair of ultra-powerful superlasers, and the Star Gizoids and their pilots were more than worth their stripes, and the Meta-Gizoids were more than capable of drawing fire and holding their own in return, and the Core Machine Gizoids and their pilots were the cream of the crop of mecha pilots that Spiral races had to offer, and the Spiral Knights were easily capable of going toe-to-toe with a round dozen of any Anti-Spiral mecha...

The fact of the matter was that they were just far too few.

No matter how many Skullknights were put down, a city-sized Kish would simply open its mouth and scores more would replace it. And no matter how many Arasen and Kishes that were taken down by the Star Gizoids or the Spiral Knights, the planet-sized Drayks would simply dispatch more.

And there was Excalibur to contend with still.

For all the awe at the size of the Hellship, it was quickly dawning on every Spiral Warrior present that the pristine-white Drayk battleship Excalibur was simply too big to be allowed.

The Anti-Spiral outclassed the Spiral Warriors in almost every manner possible.

Ceneca-9001 was lost when a clutter of Arasen had drawn in on her from every angle. Her Silver Ringer blazed gloriously, and songs would be sung of her for years to come as she felled the demonic spider mechas with clever usage of her rings and the powers of her Core Machine. In the end, though, even she was outclassed when a full-frontal assault by the Arasen drew her fire while a straggler attacked from behind, one of its legs splintering into numerous tentacles, ripping her Core Machine out from her Gizoid and prying the Core Machine open, tearing Ceneca-9001 limb from limb as she screamed.

Even Lucus's four friends, who had remained steadfast and loyal to him to this point, could not help but wonder if he had forsaken them as the noose drew tighter.

Salasine glanced around at the Skullknights, Arasen, and Kish that were closing in around them. They were cut off from the Hellship or any sort of help. Their forces were down in strength significantly, several thousand Gizoid pilots had already lost their lives, and at least four of the Core Machine Gizoid pilots were dead.

"Looks like the end, doesn't it?" asked the image of Undenine in his eye.

Salasine gripped Zheuque's butterfly controls tightly.

"It's not over yet," he growled.

Syne's image appeared beside Undenine's.

"He's right! We'll make these bozos remember us, at least!"

_For all the good that will do_, Salasine thought bitterly, all too prepared to at least go down swinging.

It was the least he could do with the Anti-Spiral having sullied his beloved Zheuque.

_**"FINAL PRISM AUGER!"**_

Huenlonix, with a glowing silver drill emerging from its left fist, each of the seven different colored Wisps leading the drill along, their colors trailing down the drill's grooves, blazed straight through several Kishes and Arasen, which detonated in clouds of purple-white flame.

The Huenlonix was being followed by a horde of hundreds of multi-colored Wisps, who dispersed themselves across the battlefield to aid the Spiral Warriors.

The Skullknights turned in surprise at their larger brethren being slaughtered so suddenly, which in turn gave the Spiral Knights the opportunity to smash, whip, bash and slice their way out from being cornered in space.

Gnonine, Salasine, Syne, and Undenine watched in awe as Lucus's Huenlonix traced a path of color through the sky with this unexpected move.

"He just keeps pulling new tricks out of the hat, doesn't he?" Gnonine said, hope returning to him.

"It certainly looks that way," Salasine concurred.

Now, the Final Prism Auger was directed at the nearest Drayk battleship, which opened its mouth in readiness to blast Huenlonix and its pilot to space dust. The rainbow blazing drill shot straight down the Drayk's gullet, and explosions erupted along the Drayk's length, before Lucus and his Huenlonix emerged from the Drayk's tail, the planet-sized dragon battleship detonating behind him.

"AWESOME!" Syne shouted, Baihuu raising its Goldion Hammer in homage to Lucus.

Then a blue Wisp flitted up to his cockpit, passing through the orb as though it were nothing, entering Syne's chest as a ball of blue light.

"What the—?"

Suddenly, a new thought came into Syne's mind.

An image of the Drayk battleships directly below him.

He was not sure what was going on, but he was sure of what he was going to do.

One word erupted from his mouth:

"CUBE!"

And in a flash of light, Syne became a blue cube with glowering yellow eyes. His Baihuu followed suit around him.

And pilot and Gizoid dropped out of sight from Syne's thoroughly bewildered comrades.

The cube-Baihuu ploughed straight through the four Drayks that had positioned themselves below the Hellship to prevent its further movement. The perfectly cube-shaped holes through the Drayks then expanded outwards with explosions that tore the battleships in two.

Many tens of thousands of miles below, Syne and Baihuu returned to normal, a happy little blue Wisp flitting away.

At that moment, a pink Wisp had flitted into Salasine's cockpit, a yellow one into Undenine's, and a cyan one into Gnonine's. Now that they had seen what the Wisps were capable of when their Spiral Power combined with another's, they were all too eager to put these new powers to use.

"SPIKES!" shouted Salasine.

"DRILL!" Undenine bellowed.

"LASER!" Gnonine snarled.

Salasine Blacknarcissus and his Zheuque turned into pink spiky orbs, Undenine Redpine and his Qyinlone became large yellow drills with glowing yellow eyes, and Gnonine Pale-Bayleaf and his Xuanwuo became a cyan beam of light.

Salasine drove his Zheuque along the surface of a Drayk, pink energy clawing its way clean through the titanic Anti-Spiral warship. The Drayk's energy attacks ceased, and it began to drift apart into two pieces as Salasine and Zheuque separated from the pink Wisp.

Undenine and his Qyinlone ploughed through space, tearing through a Drayk, then turning rapidly and drilling through it from another angle. And another. And another. In time, the Drayk exploded, and Qyinlone and its pilot returned to their natural state as the yellow Wisp darted off.

Gnonine and his Xuanwuo, fused as one with cyan light, darted about the battlefield, penetrating countless Anti-Spiral mechas - Kish, Arasen, Skullknight, Drayk - refracting out of each at a separate angle to strike at another enemy vessel. In moments, the battlefield was alight with the heavy destruction of Anti-Spiral technology, and the cyan Wisp separated from the now-dazed Gnonine.

All about the battlefield, Wisps were temporarily combining with the Gizoids and their pilots. Soon, the battlefront was filled with orange rocket-shaped Gizoids tearing through Anti-Spiral mechas, green cloud-shaped Gizoids that dodged enemy attacks with ease, cyan laser Gizoids that zapped around and pierced the vitals of many Anti-Spiral constructs, blue cube Gizoids that fell straight through Drayks without resistance, pink spiky Gizoids that cut enemy robots to ribbons, yellow drill Gizoids that punched holes in their foes, and red fiery Gizoids that melted all nearby enemy units down.

_希望_

"The enemy are suffering massive casualties, General!" the radar officer piped up. "Drayk units are down by 67%! Anti-Spiral general forces down to less than one-quarter!"

"Enemy bombardment weakening!" cried the mechanic. "Shields now holding steady on all sectors!"

Crysantem looked out at the colors darting across the battlefield. For several minutes now, he had nearly given up on this battle and was almost going to resign himself to defeat.

But now, with the captured Wisps returned to their senses, and a heretofore unmentioned ability had come to light...

"Was this because of the Wisps?" he mused. "Can we win this battle...?"

The helixometer, which had been flagging, began to inch upward.

_合体なんてクソくらえ！！（合体挿入曲第一番 ハ短調アレグロ Ｋ２５６４）_

Dispersing the Final Prism Auger, and watching the Wisps fly off to aid in this turning battle, Lucus turned his thoughts back to Yacker, the reason this all could happen. Somehow, he was able to return his people to their former selves, and this allowed him to not only defeat his nemesis Black Doom, but also allowed for this sudden reversal of fortune. In the distance, Lucus could see the Hellship firing its dual superlasers, the Maelstrom Cannon and Mega Vortex Cannon, twin beams of purple energy lancing out from its eyes at a Drayk, punching a hole in its side and forcing its detonation.

But Lucus did not know whether or not his friends were alive or dead, and he needed to traverse this battlefield quickly to find them. If they were dead, he would never be able to forgive himself, and he would make the most use out of himself by using his Huenlonix Overload to convert a deadly enemy attack into Spiral Power for his allies to use.

At the cost of himself.

Lucus shook his head.

_Just don't think about it._

On either side of him, a Cyclone-class cruiser and a Xorda saucer were both going down, billowing smoke and fire. Escape pods containing the surviving crew members jettisoned from the two vessels, their thrust vectoring engines directing them towards the Hellship.

On a whim, Lucus formed a large, needle-like drill of violet steel on the end of each if Huenlonix's hand, blasting through space on a wave of Spiral energy, burrowing one drill into the pointed tip of the now-abandoned Cyclone-class cruiser, fissures forming in the yellow metal of the Cyclone cruiser's tip.

Then he pointed the other drill at the Xorda saucer, the needle drill lancing out and penetrating the bronzed hull of the warship.

Infusing the cruiser and the saucer with his Spiral power, Lucus initiated the command to Combine.

The two vessels and the Core Machine Gizoid glowed like emeralds in the sun.

The twin turbines on either side of the cruiser's stern rotated to point down, a forearm and a fist emerging from each. The bow split down the middle, developing joints and rotating down to form a pair of legs, the runway along the bow breaking itself down to reconstitute as a head with needle-shaped horns atop the cruiser's bridge. A singular yellow orb appeared in the middle of its face, and on its chest directly opposite the main engine on its back.

The Xorda saucer, meanwhile, was being broken down into plates of bronzed steel, which affixed themselves to the new Star Meta-Gizoid, providing it with many more weapons ports and Gizoid hangars than would normally be present on the Cyclone cruiser.

And so the transformation was complete, leaving a tremendous bronze Star Meta-Gizoid bristling with weaponry, faster by far than its core Gizoid would be on its own, the twin yellow orbs on its face and chest glinting in the distant starlight.

Within the new Star Meta-Gizoid's head was a cockpit identical to the cockpits of rank-and-file Gizoids. Huenlonix was seated there, its arms folded.

This was exhilirating. Lucus had never combined Huenlonix with a larger mecha before, but according to Ceneca-6913, this would most certainly increase the level of Spiral Power he could produce. Flexing the new Star Meta-Gizoid's hands, Lucus decided it was time to move.

Lucus bellowed its name for the Anti-Spiral to hear and fear.

"CYCLONE... HUENLONIX!"

**サイクロンホゥエンロニックス  
Cyclone Huenlonix**

Bringing up one of Cyclone Huenlonix's hands, a blast of green light produced a bronze drill five times the size of the new mecha.

**"CYCLONE..."**

It began to spin out rapidly...

**"AUGER!"**

And he took off through space to find his friends.

* * *

Once the reason behind the sudden shift in the Spiral Warriors' fortune became clear, the Anti-Spiral forces began to target the Wisps directly. This would not have been easy, since the Wisps themselves were very small targets, but they had the misfortune of flying in clusters, so the remaining Drayks fired immense turbolaser blasts that incinerated them, while the Skullknights began to pick off stragglers. The Wisp transformations of Gizoids became fewer and farther between, and though the Anti-Spiral's numbers were far fewer than was comfortable, the tide of battle began to turn in their favor again.

"Damn it!" Undenine swore, a Skullknight's axe in one hand, his own Qyinlone's whip in the other. "Aren't we making _any_ headway at all?"

"Just... hang in there!" grunted Syne, his Baihuu back-to-back with Qyinlone. He had converted his Goldion Hammer into a large axe-pike combination, and was taking aim at any passing Anti-Spirals, crying out "GOD AND DEVIL!" and firing off double-helixes of red and yellow energy.

"'Hang in there'? For how much longer?" Salasine said wearily, the blades around the edges of his Zheuque's mirror-staff whirring testily.

"As long as it takes for Lucus to join us," Gnonine said testily, Xuanwuo's blades singing in the silence of space as he hooked away a Skullknight's polearm.

Almost as if on cue, a tremendous bronze Star Meta-Gizoid with an even larger bronze drill smashed the Anti-Spiral mechas attacking the four Spiral Knights.

It turned to face them.

"Hey guys. Sorry I'm late," it said in Lucus's voice.

The four sighed in relief.

"Lucus! Where've you been?" Gnonine said lightly.

"Oh, just getting dressed for the occasion," said the Cyclone Huenlonix, inspecting its fingertips.

Then its body language became more serious, and Lucus said:

"I just defeated Black Doom. The battle should be clear now. You saw how powerful the Cyclone Auger was. If I combine _your _Gizoids into this, then combine it with the Hellship..."

The four Spiral Knight Gizoids - Baihuu, Qyinlone, Zheuque, and Xuanwuo - all froze in anticipation.

The Cyclone Huenlonix clenched a fist.

"I bet we could punch a hole in that Excalibur beast!"

Syne, Undenine, Salasine, and Gnonine put their fists in the air with a "YEAH!", and because they were holding the butterfly controls, their Gizoids followed suit.

Cyclone Huenlonix's face-orb dissolved, revealing the bridge of the former Cyclone cruiser, and Huenlonix standing astride it.

"Then _let's COMBINE!_" cried Lucus.

A thin, violet, needle-like drill shot out from each of Huenlonix's arms and legs, stretching out towards each of the other Spiral Knights' Gizoids. Upon contact, the drills did not penetrate directly, but instead splintered into rootlike constructs and wormed their way into each mecha before drawing it in. Each mecha was incorporated into the metalwork around the bridge, and as they did, changes came about to the Star Meta-Gizoid. The Anti-Spiral mechas could only watch; a twister of green energy prevented them from getting too close.

The singular head split once, then twice, elongating tremendously, forming dragon's heads with long, spiny horns. From the neck up, each head changed color; its left head turned from bronze to pale green, its middle head to dark-purple, and its rightmost head to jet-black.

Its left arm bulked up, the armor color-shifting to blood-red, its fingertips developing extended claws.

Its right arm became even more immense than its left as it turned from bronze to bright yellow, its hand balling into a fist that swelled into a large hammer-head.

Its legs and torso glowed green, its legs splintering into numerous rootlike tentacles, growing and extending and forming entirely flexible joints, is torso swelling and bulging like a barrel. When the light faded, its bronzed torso and tentacled lower half had a rough, barklike texture, concealing many weapons systems.

The five of them, having come to silent agreement while the transformation was taking place, all bellowed as one:

"GREAT METAREX!"

**完全要塞都市スターメタギゾイド  
グレイトメタレックス  
Absolute Fortress City Star Meta-Gizoid  
Great MetaRex**

The Anti-Spiral mechas, sensing a massive spike in Spiral Power on the battlefield, stopped whatever they were doing - attacking the Hellship, attacking a Star Gizoid, attacking a Cyclone cruiser, attacking a Xorda saucer, attacking a Meta-Gizoid - and made a beeline for the Great MetaRex, in the hopes of crushing the Spiral Knights.

The five Spiral Knights' Gizoids, seated with Huenlonix in the middle, with Xuanwuo above, Baihuu to the right, Zheuque below, and Qyinlone to the left, each grasped their own copies of the butterfly controls that controlled ordinary-sized Gizoids.

"Let's do this, guys!" Lucus shouted.

"GOT IT!"

Great MetaRex's hammer produced a golden light version of itself three times larger than itself and swung it mightily through space. Thousands of Skullknights were obliterated at once, and Drayks by the dozen lost limbs and heads, rendered inoperable.

* * *

"What in the world is _that_?" Crysantem asked, regarding the multi-colored Star Meta-Gizoid that had sprouted in the middle of the battlefield and had taken the brunt of attacks off of the Hellship, leaving the Meta-Gizoids, the Great MetaCompasses, and the thousand-some battleships to pick off the Anti-Spiral's forces.

"It would seem that Lucus Darkoak has combined his Huenlonix with a Cyclone cruiser and a Xorda saucer," said the navigations officer. "Looks like the Core Machine really does work with the Principle of Spiral Amplification."

Crysantem had no more words to offer. These past few hours had been so full of emotional swings every which way that he was beginning to feel rather faint.

He was starting to feel his age.

The Great MetaRex produced a large silver drill from its left fist, and by 'large', it was five times the size of the Star Meta-Gizoid. The Spiral Knights' ultimate Gizoid then made a beeline, not for Excalibur, but for...

The Hellship.

Lucus's face appeared on the main screen.

"Come in, General Goldyew! Come in!"

Crysantem hurriedly saluted.

"Y-Yes, Captain Darkoak!"

"General, I am about to combine with the Super Spiral Engine. I'm going to use myself as a power source for the Hellship's Maelstrom Cannon and Mega Vortex Cannon!"

The Hellship bridge went even more still than before.

"That's... that's..." Crysantem stuttered.

Then he broke out into a broad smile.

"That's a stupendous idea! This ultimate attack could potentially defeat the Anti-Spiral for good!"

Lucus grinned.

"I know. Now, everyone strap yourself down if you can, 'cause the Great MetaRex is coming in, and it's gonna get rough!"

* * *

The Great MetaRex blasted its way to the midsection of the Hellship, spinning around and gazing up at Excalibur with its three heads.

"You sure about this, Lucus?" asked Gnonine. "I trust you know what you're doing, but what if this doesn't work against that thing?"

Lucus grinned at Gnonine's image.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained!"

Syne did a fist-pump.

"AWW YEAH! Now _this _is what I'm talking about!"

Undenine shrugged.

"Well, if Syne's ready, then I'm ready when you are, Lucus."

Salasine merely nodded.

"I concur with the wisest course of action, of course."

Lucus lowered his head, closing his eyes.

"Okay, then."

His eyes snapped open, glowing green.

"Let's do this!"

The drill emerging from the Great MetaRex's fist vanished in a flash of green light. But unlike the past times when Lucus had dispersed a drill, the light did not disperse. Rather, it began to grow around the Great MetaRex, until it was almost blinding. Then, it winked out. The Great MetaRex was gone.

Inside the Hellship, in the Super Spiral Power Plant, there was a flash of green light inside the cavernous Super Spiral engine, and the Great MetaRex appeared, to the surprise of the engineers and mechanics there. In three flashes of green light, its mile-long arms were replaced with titanic silver drills, and a drill of similar scale encompassed its lower half. Two drills extended from the walls of the Super Spiral engine, detecting a powerful source of Spiral Power.

**ヘルシップ内・超絶螺旋機関  
Inside Hellship - Ultra Spiral Power Plant**

Lucus uncrossed his arms for the first time since he'd gotten into G-Merl at the start of this battle and grabbed the control sticks for G-Merl. All the better to channel his Spiral Power into the Hellship.

"Guys, I'm gonna need _your_ fighting spirit, too."

Gnonine, Salasine, Syne, and Undenine grasped the butterfly controls of their Gizoids and let loose rising yells. The Spiral Power output of their Gizoids shot up considerably.

* * *

Up on the bridge, the helixometer skyrocketed.

"General, our Spiral Power is at four-hundred-fifty-thousand! That's more than enough to power for the Maelstrom Cannon _and_ the Mega Vortex Cannon!"

Crysantem nodded. He took in a deep breath...

And gave the order.

"FULL POWER TO THE MAELSTROM CANNON AND THE VORTEX CANNON! FIRE UPON THE ANTI-SPIRAL FLAGSHIP!"

_メイルシュトローム砲とメガボルテックスキャノン_

The eyes on the front of the Hellship began to glow a bright purple. Then a green pulsating light began to become more and more rapid in timing, and more and more intense in brightness.

This did not pass unnoticed by Excalibur, which was the last of the truly threatening Anti-Spiral warships. It drew up its clawed hands, its seven eyes narrowing in loathing of the pest that was the Hellship. It opened its jaws wide, wider than any living creature possibly could. Light and energy was gathering in its mouth, evoking traumatic memories for those who had escaped from Greengate a decade ago...

Twin energy beams as green as emeralds blazed out from the Hellship's Maelstrom Cannon and Mega Vortex Cannon, each one far more potent than both were before combined.

And they each funneled out, growing wider as they lanced out towards Excalibur.

For several moments, all that anyone on board the Hellship could see was green light.

When it cleared, it took a few seconds for everyone's eyes to adjust to the sudden dimness compared to the brightness of the twin superlasers. The bridge crewmembers looked up to the space where the Hellship's cannons had fired.

Excalibur was gone. All that remained was a cloud of black-blue smoke, fragments of white scales, a single claw from one of its hands, and one of its eyes.

"We've _DONE IT_!" cried Crysantem, putting a fist in the air.

The bridge crewmembers stood and cheered at the top of their lungs, hugging each other and sobbing tears of joy, of relief. All throughout the Hellship, and across the remaining thousand or so ships of the fleet, the same events unfolded. Moments of euphoria, of relief and release, of a return to peacetime. The Anti-Spiral were defeated, at long last.

At heavy cost.

In the thousands of Gizoids, Meta-Gizoids, and Star Gizoids still floating out in space, the pilots who lived paid silent respect to those who had fallen.

Those who had died with their homeworlds.

Those who had died fighting the Anti-Spiral, whether in Gizoid or in battleship.

Those who had lost family, friend, or home to the Anti-Spiral.

Inside the Great MetaRex, Lucus and his four friends heaved heavy sighs.

_It's over_, he thought, disconnecting Huenlonix from the Great MetaRex. Around him, his friends mirrored his movements, the five using their Spiral Power to warp their Gizoids to the hangar bay, where Gizoids were presently flying back to their stations, or just landing wherever if a frenzied Nega-Wisp had eaten it. In the next few moments, the five Spiral Knights stood in a circle and were exchanging hugs and headbutts for a successful mission.

"Good work, guys," Lucus said, placing his Core Drill necklace back around his neck.

"It wasn't easy, though," Gnonine said, shaking his head with closed eyes. "A lot of people died in this battle."

"I just hope they didn't have painful deaths," Undenine said sadly.

"It's finished," Syne said gruffly. "That's all that matters now."

"You know? I must concur with Syne," Salasine said flippantly. "With the Anti-Spiral defeated, all there is left is the reconstruction."

Ordinarily, Syne would have socked Salasine for such a dig, but with the lifting of such a heavy burden from their shoulders, all he did was clap Salasine on the back with a large hand.

The five of them then walked to the teleporter, past enthusiastically cheering Gizoid pilots, to meet with Crysantem at the bridge.

The bridge was a veritable storm of mixed emotions, most of them positive. Someone had produced a bottle of champagne from somewhere and popped it, and people were having glasses poured out for them. A tad irresponsible, given that they had to go home and begin rebuilding from the destruction wrought by the Anti-Spiral, but that would take time. There were many things which had been lost that could not be replaced: lives, homes, planets, families.

Entire races had been lost as well, or been driven to the point of extinction. Avalon had not been the only home of Avalonians, but they were a shadow of their former self now. The Kaamdaarn had been lost completely. The Wisps were almost extinct after being hunted like vermin by the Anti-Spiral, culminating in the heavy losses they'd incurred in this battle. The few remaining Xorda after so many battles with the Anti-Spiral were entirely contained in the saucers they'd volunteered for this battle. The Bem, a race of clones, were in no real danger of extinction unless their cloning technology was lost (which it was).

For now, they would drink their sorrows away, drink to the memory of so many lost, and dream of better days to come.

Lucus was on his sixth glass when it happened:

The radar went berserk.

The radar officer stumbled over to her station, sloshing her drink this way and that, before seating herself in her seat sideways. She tapped at the radar screen...

And screeched three words that doused everyone present in icy sobriety.

"ANTI-SPIRAL SHIPS DETECTED!"

Out the viewport, a dark tear opened up in the fabric of space-time...

And another Excalibur descended into existence.

And another.

And another.

Within moments, the Hellship was surrounded by a round dozen Excalibur battleships, each of them affixing the Hellship with a hateful gaze.

Not a single person on board the Hellship or any of the Spiral Warrior fleet's ships dared to move; many were scared to blink, lest there be nothing there when their eyes opened again.

A flicker of movement overhead. The Hellship's bridge crewmembers looked up.

Silence.

Far above, farther than the span of an Excalibur from nose to tail, was an even larger dragon. Its skin was pure silver, and no joints or overlap of scales was visible at this distance. It was impossible to tell just how large it was, but it was on order of scale larger by far than Excaliburs could ever hope to be. It may even have been _light-years_ long.

**多元進化確率生命体反螺旋突撃艦  
クラレント  
Multi-Evolutionary Probability Lifeform Anti-Spiral Assault Ship  
Clarent**

The Spiral Warriors gaped at their foe's capabilities and resources.

"All of that fighting..." Crysantem mused aloud.

"All of that massacre..." Gnonine breathed.

"And the Anti-Spiral was just _toying _with us...?" Lucus gasped.

_**toying, lucus darkoak? we anti-spiral are not so petty.**_

Lucus looked wildly around.

"Who said that?"

Crysantem looked confused.

"Who said what?"

_**the situation is far too grave for such trifling behaviour.**_

Gnonine, Salasine, Syne, and Undenine were looking around as well.

"Not anyone in here, Lucus," said Salasine.

"It sounded like it was coming from... the walls," Syne said.

It did, now that Lucus thought on it.

It also sounded strangely familiar...

But how could that voice be familiar?

No. Not 'that voice'.

'Those voices'.

A chorus of countless voices whispering in exact cadence, barely above silence, and yet somehow perfectly comprehensible, as though it was communicating meaning directly into your mind. A chorus of countless voices of young and old, man and woman, blending into and out of each other.

The voice of the Anti-Spiral.

Somehow, only the Spiral Knights - only Lucus Darkoak, Gnonine Pale-Bayleaf, Salasine Blacknarcissus, Syne Yellowzelkova, and Undenine Redpine - could hear the Anti-Spiral.

Crysantem reached toward Lucus worriedly. "Are you boys heari—?"

"Shh!" Lucus shushed him. "The Anti-Spiral is speaking to us."

The atmosphere of the bridge became significantly more tense. The mechanic fidgeted anxiously.

_**the clarent that you see above you is the flagship of the anti-spiral fleet. it is precisely six trillion miles from nose to tail. what do you plan to do now?**_

"We're gonna _smash_ it!" snarled Syne, clenching his fist.

_**will you? you barely destroyed one of our excalibur-class scouting ships. now, you are surrounded by eight, and clarent has entered your universe.**_

"We'll figure out a way," Lucus said, putting on a bravado he did not feel. He looked around the bridge, suddenly feeling uneasy. No one but him and his four childhood friends seemed to be here.

"What did you do to everyone else?" Syne demanded.

_**a perceptual barrier has been erected around you five. you can neither perceive nor be perceived by your crew until this barrier is lifted. your perception of them would be a distraction.**_

A shiver involuntarily went up Lucus's spine, and he could tell that it was happening with his four friends as well. It was as though a dark and sinister presence had entered the room. The stars seemed to have gone out.

"How have you appeared in this universe? And how were you speaking to us five, and us five alone?" asked Salasine.

_**clarent is a small fragment of our universe**_, the Anti-Spiral's voice replied. _**we have the capacity to appear within range of something from our dimension. much like how taking a stroll from a teleporter.**_

"So if we destroy Clarent, you'll shut up?" Undenine queried heatedly.

The five Spiral Knights felt a bristling in the air, as though the Anti-Spiral were recoiling from some sort of offense.

_**it is all that you spiral races know to destroy**_, the Anti-Spiral said acidly.

The Anti-Spiral's voice was now behind him. Lucus spun around, but he saw nothing.

"Who are you describing, us or you?" Gnonine asked, trying to sound brave. "All that we know of you is the casualty list you leave behind. If we knew the reason, we'd know what we're fighting against."

"Yeah, you never tell anyone _why_ you're fighting!" Syne shouted, shaking a fist at nothing.

_**people ask of us, "why do you fight?" "why do you kill?" "why do you lay us to ruin?"**_

The glints of a legion of eyes met Lucus's.

_**they will go to their graves, never learning the answers. that is only bliss we will leave open to them. but **_**you**_**...**_

And Lucus realized.

Nothing _was_ the Anti-Spiral.

A shape of sheer empty nothingness appeared before them. It resembled a robed bipedal creature of some sort, with a staff of some sort ending in a large bulb. A large tendril of some sort curled from the back of its 'head'. The dead stare of countless pairs of eyes nearly paralyzed Lucus.

The Anti-Spiral raised its staff, and dreadful, invisible, blinding light radiated from the bulb tip. Lucus, Gnonine, Salasine, Syne, and Undenine shielded their eyes.

_**you, who fight for your survival, are not fighting for survival in the correct manner. in this way, you have been a thorn in our side, and you shall thusly be neutralised by realising why **_**we**_**, the anti-spiral, fight. then this universe will finally be saved by the evils of the excess use of spiral power.**_

Lucus was shielding his eyes from the glare of the Anti-Spiral's invisible light.

"Wh... What do you mean...?" Lucus asked, suddenly majorly unsettled.

The tendril coming from the back of the Anti-Spiral's head reached around, splitting into multiple tentacles that drew Lucus, Gnonine, Salasine, Syne, and Undenine's hands away from their eyes, hoisting them up into the air. The invisible light shone deeply into their eyes.

_**spiral power is the power of evolution**_, the Anti-Spiral explained._** lifeforms which carry helical dna; galaxies which take spiral shape; they are amplified to infinite levels by spiral power, which magnifies **_**everything**_**. that is the fundamental underpinning of this universe. however, infinite amplication of spiral power is a cataclysmic gamble for the stability of existence.**_

The invisible light took shape in Lucus, Gnonine, Salasine, Syne, and Undenine's minds; they visualized a Thorndrigan much like themselves, standing in the center of a galaxy.

_**spiral power is the force which binds together lifeforms and the universe. the growth of galaxies is proportional to the growth of life. life developed in search of forms that would let it acquire even more power of the spiral. this... is evolution.**_

Various lifeforms of every persuasion - legs, wings, flippers, antennae - swirled around the arms of the galaxy, the galactic core centered around the Thorndrigan's stomach.

_**a single lifeform is capable of drawing forth the power of the infinite universe. however, no lifeform is capable of controlling such power. that is the cold, hard truth of the universe.**_

The Thorndrigan's eyes and hands began to glow green. As the glow intensified, showing through his veins, he clutched his head in silent agony, cracks opening in his skin, beams of blinding green light shooting out of those cracks, as well as his eyes and mouth.

_**the end result of trying to draw out infinite spiral power would be a loss of control over that spiral power, and the energy that erupts from the lifeform's body would become a galaxy.**_

The Thorndrigan exploded outward into an actual full-sized galaxy, each star glowing the same emerald hue.

_**when this spiral energy begins to run out of control, it will instantly spawn as many galaxies as there are lifeforms in the universe.**_

The lifeforms around the Thorndrigan that was now a galaxy became galaxies as well.

The view expanded. This was all happening on the surface of a planet, which crumbled as every lifeform on the planet turned into a full-sized galaxy at once. The galaxies collapsed into each other, becoming so massive that even the light they projected could not escape their gravity.

But this was not a localized phenomenon. Every planet in the galaxy was suffering this same phenomenon, and every star these planets orbited fell into these galactic black holes. These supermassive black holes then devoured each other, causing the galaxy itself to wink out of existence.

_**the imbalance of mass would lead these new mega-galaxies to swallow each other, forming an unfathomably large black hole...**_

And still _this_ was not the only galaxy which suffered such a cataclysmic end. Every galaxy in the universe had suffered a similar fate - some slower than others, some almost instantaneously - and those that did not were being rapidly drawn towards the galaxies that had.

_**and so this universe would return to nothingness.**_

All the life...

All the struggles...

All drawn into the nothingness of supermassive black holes...

As though it had never been.

As though it all meant nothing.

Even the Lucus, Gnonine, Salasine, Syne, and Undenine were being drawn in by the gravity of this impossibly realistic simulation, every particle in their bodies being stretched as thin as they could before breaking off, their bodies bifurcating their way into the singularity at the core of this universe-sized black hole...

_**this is the Spiral Nemesis.**_

And suddenly it was over. They were all in exactly the same position they were in when the Anti-Spiral began its revelation about the end of everything...

_**the uncontrolled process of evolution will destroy the universe in a single instant.**_

The Anti-Spiral lowered Lucus, Gnonine, Salasine, Syne, and Undenine to the ground, where they collapsed to their knees, barely supported by their shaking hands.

Tears dripped onto the ground.

_**why does a flower bloom, when it is destined to wither? its beauty is so short-lived...**_

Lucus's jaw quivered.

"It can't be true..." Gnonine gasped.

"No..." Lucus said. "No, it is."

"Lucus, do you _hear_ yourself?" Undenine sobbed. "It _can't_ be true!"

"Have you gone mad?" Salasine asked.

"Yeah!" Syne barked. "You _know_ it can't be true!"

"No, I _know_ that it _is_ true," Lucus said steadily, holding a shaking hand up to his face. "_Everything_ the Anti-Spiral said is true. I can feel it, the power of the universe - of evolution - in every cell of my body... Oh Whiteaspen, it's such a terrifying power. I always knew it was a high-risk ability, but never did I dream of this."

He looked up at Gnonine, Salasine, Syne, and Undenine. They were all looking at him with disbelief.

"But now... it's all so obvious. Spiral Power can generate matter if channeled in a certain way; a long time ago, before Spiral Power was unlocked, creating or destroying matter was thought to be impossible. And what is a black hole, but an object of extreme mass packed together in a very tight ball? It's so dense, not even light can escape. You could run as fast as you could and you wouldn't outrun the gravitational pull of a black hole."

Gnonine, Salasine, Syne, and Undenine looked down at their hands. Their fingers were trembling, as though they were afraid that closing their fists would create universe-crushing black holes.

"But every time that I piloted Huenlonix," Lucus continued, "I felt like a whole new _universe_ was being born in every cell of my body whenever I used my Spiral Power. And when it went rampant..." Lucus grimaced. "I felt like a galaxy wanted to burst out of my chest."

"That one time you vomited blood after Teragosa 6!" Undenine piped in.

Lucus nodded slowly.

"Exactly. I kept it bottled up, but... I was terrified. Now I know why."

He looked up to the Anti-Spiral.

"Anti-Spiral, we didn't know," he pleaded. "We didn't know that we held such a terrifying power. What should we do to make up for it?"

The Anti-Spiral looked down on them.

_**there is a planet in the nearest star system**_, it explained. _**this star has numerous natural satellites, but only the third planet from the star harbours life. the dominant species is very close to unlocking their spiral power. you are to travel to that planet, and exterminate all life on that planet.**_

Lucus, his purpose now very clear, stood up. He wasn't shaking at all. Behind him, he heard Gnonine, Salasine, Syne, and Undenine stand up steadily as well.

"We'll do it, Anti-Spiral," Lucus said, saluting by slamming his right fist on his chest. Gnonine, Salasine, Syne, and Undenine followed suit.

_**very well. if you plan to commandeer this hellship, you will need to exterminate everyone on board. many of them are also very strong with spiral power, and will need to be put down at any rate.**_

Lucus hesitated.

Only for an instant.

"If it keeps the Spiral Nemesis from happening, we'll do it."

He turned to face Gnonine, Salasine, Syne, and Undenine.

"Won't we, guys?"

"Yessir!" Gnonine, Salasine, Syne, and Undenine said, saluting.

Lucus nodded appreciatively, without a smile.

He would never smile again.

_**in that case**_, said the Anti-Spiral, rising up to the transparisteel ceiling of the Hellship bridge, _**we shall be lifting the perceptual barrier. be prepared to fight.**_

The Anti-Spiral vanished from sight, and the surrounding bridge suddenly became populated with the bridge crewmembers, all standing in a circle around the spot where Lucus, Gnonine, Salasine, Syne, and Undenine had vanished from. The surrounding bridge seemed a little too bright and colorful; had the perceptual barrier deadened the perception of colors?

"Lucus! Boys!" said Crysantem hoarsely, taking Lucus's hand. "You said you heard the Anti-Spiral talking to you, and then you just... vanished! The spot you were standing in went all gray and..." Crysantem's eye creased with annoyance. "Are you listening to me, Lucus? You look distracted."

Lucus was looking around the room at every one of the crewmembers on the bridge. There were ten million crewmembers on the ship in total.

Ten million possible triggers for the Spiral Nemesis.

Best remove them from the equation.

Starting here.

Lucus snapped his eyes to Goldyew and, before the general could respond, drove a fist straight through his chest. The old Thorndrigan was dead before he hit the floor.

The remaining bridge crewmembers were too stunned by this behavior - and the surrounding Anti-Spiral battleships - to put up much further resistance. Lucus tore crewmembers limb from limb; Syne crushed several skulls; Undenine suffocated them under his tail; Salasine snapped several necks; and Gnonine strangled those he could reach.

In a matter of minutes, the bridge was splattered with blood and broken bodies.

Looking around the bridge to ensure no more survivors, Lucus beckoned his four comrades to the communications console. He keyed in the security code, then set up a firewall to prevent any outside communications onboard the Hellship.

With a twitch of Lucus's will, the Gizoid hangar doors hundreds of miles away locked themselves.

There would be no escaping Gizoids.

Without another word, Lucus, Gnonine, Salasine, Syne, and Undenine stepped into the teleporter, heading for the hangar.

The communications officer crawled up to the console with her single remaining arm, petals falling from the flowers on her head. That they were wilting meant she would be dead soon. She activated the shipwide announcement system, and said into the microphone, "Attention, all crewmembers... Lucus Darkoak and his... companions... have been brainwashed... by the Anti-Spiral... They are... to be terminated... on sight... Do not... let them pilot... a Gizoid..."

She slid down the console, and the communications officer died.

The Hellship would live up to her name.

**CHAPTER FOUR:  
No...**

**つづく  
To be continued...**


End file.
